


Hermione's Love Life

by 9876grpc



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-11
Updated: 2013-05-11
Packaged: 2017-12-11 12:18:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 59,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/798655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/9876grpc/pseuds/9876grpc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Ron stumble upon Hermione fighting with Malfoy and are unable to believe what transpires and the consequences of it. They soon find that Hermione has been keeping a lot of secrets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hermione's Love Life

Author's Note: I do not own anything Harry Potter (JK Rowling and Warner Brother do), because if I did Harry and Hermione would end up together.  FYI..This story starts off with Draco & Hermione but will become Harry & Hermione

The great hall was mostly empty, as lunch had just finished, however, Harry, Ron and Ginny were stopped by Professor McGonagall to discuss a few things about the rumored party in Gryffindor tower that night. When she had finished lecturing the three on keeping things relatively under control at the party she then told the three to tell Miss Granger that she is expected to be present at all meals especially now. Ginny exchanged a look with McGonagall, however, Ron and Harry just looked confused. Before they were able to question her further however, a loud argument was heard approaching from outside, obviously a lover's quarrel. In no time the doors were thrown open and in storms Hermione followed closely by none other than Draco Malfoy. The two were so wrapped up in their argument that they didn't even notice the small group gathered in the doorway to the great hall that consisted of Hermione's best friends on one side of the foyer or Professor Snape, Blaise and Pansy coming up from the dungeons on the other side of the foyer. They continued their very loud argument, shocking nearly everyone present into silence…

"Draco, you are being ridiculous, I refuse to discuss this any further with you until you have calmed down" says Hermione as she turns to walk away from him.

"No, I don't believe I am quite finished with you yet, Love" says Draco, grabbing her arm and forcefully pulling her back to him.

At this point Harry and Ron have both taken out their wands and start to head over to Hermione but Prof. McGonagall holds them back. She shares a look with Prof. Snape on the other side of the hall who is doing the same with Pansy and Blaise.

"Fine, have it your way" she says, pushing him away from her and grabbing her arm back.

"It's Potter isn't it?" asks Draco

"What? What are you talking about Draco?"

"That's why you haven't been sleeping with me the last couple of weeks isn't it. Your sleeping with him, aren't you?"

"Draco, stop it. How many times do we have to go through this, I am not sleeping with Harry."

"I don't believe you. Something is off and you won't look me in the eye, I know you're hiding something from me."

"I can't do this right now, I'm leaving"…as Hermione turns to leave she realizes that they are not alone, however Draco is only concerned with Hermione and has no idea they have an audience.

Hermione's hesitation is enough to give Draco time to catch up to her ...

Now Prof. Snape and McGonagall are running and pulling out their wands trying to get to the teens before things can get any worse…

"Tell me love, is he as good as I am? Does he make you scream in bed like I do? Does he call you his little Mudblood whore?"

And then everything seemed to happen at once. Both Draco and Hermione had completely lost their temper and before anyone could sort the two out, there was some sort of magical explosion that caused both of them to fly several feet backwards away from each other, leaving them laying on the floor.

There was a fair amount of confusion as Prof. McGonagall, Ginny and Pansy all rushed to Hermione's side.

Harry and Ron have gone straight towards Draco with their wands out, looking murderous. Blaise has also headed towards Draco and is now pointing his wand at Harry and Ron.

Draco starts trying to get up and get to Hermione, tears streaming down his face he is pushing Harry and Ron with all his might. Prof. Snape sends incarcerous hexes at the boys to keep them under control. The start spewing obscenities and Prof. Snape silences them so that they are all left bound and speechless. He quickly walks over to Prof. McGonagall and tries to figure out what to do

"Is she alive?" asks Prof. Snape

"Yes, but barely…and I don't know about the baby" whispers Prof. McGonagall

"Blaise go get Madam Pomfrey immediately, tell her it is for Miss Granger." says Prof. Snape and he then releases him from his bindings.

"Why would he do this, didn't he realize this would happen?" Prof. McGonagall asks horrified.

"I don't believe Miss Granger had told him of her condition yet…. Let's find out." Prof. Snape then walks over to Draco and un-silences him.

"Did you know that Miss Granger was pregnant?"

Draco is still crying and sobs a " What? NO! Is she OK, what happened, what's going on? TELL ME!" He screams.

Prof. Snape then un-silences Ron and Harry who are completely speechless. He then releases the boys and tells them to behave or they will face far worse than incarcerous.

Prof. McGonagall starts to explain what's going on to the group:

"Miss Granger found out that she was with child 3 weeks ago. She informed us that she wanted to wait for the right time to tell you Mr. Malfoy and we told her how important it was that you knew as soon as possible since there are some complications when a pureblood and a muggleborn conceive."

"What complications?" Said the three boys in unison

"Well, Severus maybe you can explain better?" said Prof. McGonagall

"Yes, well you see Draco since your ancestors believed that purebloods were superior to muggleborns and would never dare to dirty the bloodline, they came up with a way to ensure that only the purest of children were born. The men had a tendency to enslave muggleborns and they wanted to make sure that no children came from this. They harnessed a very old dark magic that let them do this. The magic works such that if a pureblood were to get a muggleborn pregnant all that would be needed to terminate the pregnancy would be for the pureblood to use his magic against the muggleborn. The intent was that this would be done on purpose but as more couples came from mixed bloodlines it has also happened accidentally. This is why it was so important that you both knew the risks.

At this Draco collapses to the ground and starts sobbing. Harry and Ron start yelling at Malfoy again. Finally Blaise returns with Madam Pomfrey and all are quiet waiting to see what's going on with Hermione.

Once Madam Pomfrey looks at Hermione, tears start to fall from her eyes, and she looks at Draco "She told me this morning she was going to tell you today? Did she tell you? Did she?"

She advances on Draco pointing her wand at him, and he sobs "No, she didn't tell me! I think she was trying to but I was such a fool. I thought she was trying to break up with me for Potter. I said the most horrible things to her and I never gave her a chance to tell me." He falls to the ground again and Pansy rushes over to him.

Madam Pomfrey satisfied that this wasn't done on purpose moves back to Hermione and runs a number of tests on her. After about 10 minutes she determines that Hermione is stable enough to be moved to the hospital wing.

Once at the hospital wing Madam Pomfrey made them all wait outside. So after an hour of so of silence, Harry finally spoke. "How long have you been seeing each other? How did it happen? Why didn't any of us know?"

"I knew"…said Ginny and Pansy at the same time. Harry, Ron and Blaise looked shocked at the two girls.

Then Draco finally spoke…"It happened over the summer. My mother wanted to get me away from my father and the Dark Lord so she took me on a vacation someplace where no one would ever think to look for us, muggle France. We were to spend the entire summer there. Our first week there, I was walking the beach admiring all the beautiful girls when I noticed one girl who stood out, her hair was wet and flowed down her back, she had sunglasses and the most delicious green string bikini on. Being a Malfoy I strode right up to her and started saying how she was the most beautiful girl there and that she must accompany me to dinner that night. At this she took off her sunglasses and screamed Malfoy what the hell are you doing? I was so shocked I just stood there with my mouth open. She laughed and then took pity on me asking what I was doing in Muggle France. She joked that I must have sensed she was the only witch around, because I would never have approached Hermione if I had known who she was. I found myself annoyed that she thought so little of herself. She was beautiful and how had I never seen it before? Anyway, we spent the next week just talking and getting past all the hate we had spewed at each other all these past years. As the weeks went by we spent nearly all our time together and ended up falling in love, as cliché as that sounds. When we left we promised to keep seeing each other at Hogwarts and that we would tell our friends when the time was right. Pansy walked into my room one night and found Hermione and I together so we had to spill to her. Then Ginny cornered Hermione one day and told her she knew that something was going on with us so Hermione told her. We talked about telling the rest of you lot but wanted to wait a little longer. Everything seemed to be going well until the last month. She started to withdraw from me and I got completely paranoid thinking that she didn't love me anymore that she wanted to be with someone else. I knew how close she was with Potter so I assumed he must have woken up and noticed how bloody gorgeous she was and now they were going to live happily ever after. We started fighting more and sleeping together less and nothing seemed to be right. When she told me today that she wanted to talk with me about us, I was sure she was going to break up with me. It never occurred to me that it was anything else. I'm so stupid."

"I think there were times when she wanted to tell us," said Harry. "There would be these moments where she would really look at me and I could see her mind working and I would say what is it Hermione? She would pause and then shake her head and say it's nothing, Harry really it's nothing. I told her that I would be there when she was ready to tell me and she would smile and give me a hug thanking me for being such a good friend. I noticed a change in her the last couple of weeks as well, she seemed so sad and lost. She didn't look well and was always running to the bathroom to be sick but she said it was just a stomach bug. I didn't think anything of it but I was worried about how sad she seemed. I wish I tried harder."

"She was scared you would all be disappointed in her," said Ginny. "She was scared Draco would be disappointed that she let herself get pregnant. She was scared Harry and Ron would be disappointed that she was with Draco. She thought you would all abandon her and she would be left without you and she couldn't take the thought of that. That's why she was so sad and withdrawn, that's why she didn't tell any of you what was going on. I tried to tell her that Draco loved her and that Harry and Ron would never abandon her but she was convinced her world was going to fall apart when you three found out."

The doors to the hospital opened and out came Madam Pomfrey. "Well she is stable and I'm certain she will make it through this but I'm sorry to say the baby did not survive. I have to perform a procedure on her now and I will come and talk to you again once it's over." She then turned away and went back inside.

There was nothing anyone could say. Draco sobbed quietly while Pansy hugged him and told him everything was going to be ok. Everyone else just sat in silence until the door opened again an hour later.

Madam Pomfrey came out and said "OK, I've done as much as I can for now. She will still need time to heal and I will keep her here for a few days, but she is awake and you can go in and see her if you like. I think it best if no more than three of you go in at one time and please do not upset her. The poor thing has been through a terrible ordeal."

Draco, Harry and Ron all got up at the same time to go in and see Hermione first. It was a little awkward but they were all so thrilled that she was OK that they just went with it.

Hermione looked terrible. She was so pale and her eyes were all puffy and red. She could barely keep her head up for lack of strength and she had a nasty bruise on the side of her face. She had her hands crossed over her stomach and she was facing away from them when they came up to her bed. Draco tried to wipe the tears from her face but she flinched when he touched her so he stopped. She started sobbing and Harry grabbed her hand to hold it. She kept saying how sorry she was over and over again.

Finally, Harry said, "Hermione you have nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your fault and we are not mad at you or disappointed in you. You fell in love…granted it was with the ferret, but still, you fell in love. That is nothing to be sorry about. I'm just sorry, I couldn't have told you this sooner. You are my best friend and I could never be disappointed in you."

Ron, who had been quiet this whole time, said "yeah Hermione we still love you, even if you're with the ferret."

To this she laughed and gave them big hugs, groaning in the process from something that hurt. They both apologized for hurting her profusely and then sat down next to her bed.

Draco tried to reach out to her but she pulled away. She knew what she needed to do but couldn't bring herself to get the words out. They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Ron couldn't stand the tension any more.

"Well, I'm going to let everyone know how you're doing" and he walked away from her bed.

Harry looked to her to see if she also wanted him to leave and she gave an almost invisible shake of the head to let him know that she wanted him to stay.

Draco knew that it was only a matter of time before Mia (his nickname for her) let him have it so he waited patiently...

"I'm so sorry Mia, I truly am. I had no idea and I just lost my temper" said Draco

Hermione summoned up all her Gryffindor courage and said, "I know you are sorry, Draco and I know you didn't realize what would happen, but I won't pretend this is the first time you've lost your temper."

Harry who had been trying to give them some semblance of privacy and was facing away from the bed, whipped his around and looked at them completely shocked.

"I know Mia, it's not. I don't know what happens but I just loose it sometimes and I don't know how to stop it" said Draco with his head hung low.

After a couple of minutes Draco continued, "I love you so much. I can't believe what I've done."

Finally, he asked "Mia, why didn't you tell me about the baby sooner?"

Hermione took a deep breath and then started to talk quietly, "I was scared you would be mad and leave me. And I wasn't sure what I wanted to do about the baby and was considering all my options before I told you. I wanted to have a plan should you not want anything to do with me or the baby."

"Mia, I love you and we would have figured it out" said Draco

Hermione continued on as if she didn't hear what he said, "When I first found out Madam Pomfrey told me what might happen if you lost your temper, but I told her I needed some time before I told you. She said there were all sorts of complications because you're a pureblood and I'm a muggleborn so to be very careful. She also told me to refrain from being intimate with you for a little while to see how my body adjusted to the baby."

"I realize now I should have told you all this right away, then none of this would've happened" Hermione said as she started to break down and cry again.

"It's not your fault Mia" said Draco as he reached for her hand. She let him hold it briefly and then pulled away.

At this point Madam Pomfrey came back in and gave Hermione a potion to help her sleep. "Now boys, I must ask that you leave Miss Granger to get some rest, you can come back in the morning to visit her." "Oh and please tell the others that they will have to wait until tomorrow to visit as well," and then she was hurrying off again to get Hermione her pain potions.

Harry gave Hermione a quick kiss on the cheek said, "I'll be back in the morning to check on you, try and get some rest."

Draco wanted so badly to just hold her, but he could tell she didn't want him to so he said "I'll be back again in the morning to check on you." He tried to kiss her, but she backed away so he just squeezed her hand and left the hospital wing.

Hermione was then given her pain potions and was asleep within minutes…her last thoughts were of how wrong everything went.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, Harry, Ron and Ginny were sitting in silence, still unable to believe everything. After a few minutes, Harry bolted up to his room and came running back down.

"What are you doing," Ginny and Ron asked at the same time when they noticed Harry had his invisibility cloak.

"I'm going to stay in the hospital wing with Hermione," he replied as if it was the most logical thing to do.

"What, why, she'll be asleep the whole time," said Ron.

"I just want to, OK, Ron" said Harry reproachfully.

"Yeah, sure, see you in the morning, then" said Ron.

When Harry arrived, Hermione was asleep and so he pulled up a chair, transformed it so that it was a little more comfortable and drew the curtains around her bed. He took off his cloak and brought his chair up close enough so that he could hold her hand and then put his head down on the bed and instantly fell asleep.

Sometime later, Madam Pomfrey came in to check on Hermione and found the two sound asleep with their hands entwined…she woke Hermione to give her another dose of pain medicine. When Hermione raised her hand to grab the potion, she pulled Harry's hand as well, which woke him up. She took the potion and thanked Madam Pomfrey, who just left pretending not to notice Harry.

With a big sigh, Hermione turned to Harry and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to stay with you and make sure you were OK Hermione. And No, I'm not leaving, so you're just going to have to put up with me," he said with a smile.

"Honestly, Harry it must be terribly uncomfortable for you" worried Hermione.

"I'm fine; don't worry about me…how are you feeling?"

"I'm tired and I seem to be aching all over and my stomach is killing me but I think the pain meds are starting to kick in because I'm getting drowsy again." Then she let out a big yawn.

"OK, well lay back and get some rest and let the potions do their job." Harry got up and fluffed some of her pillows for her and brought the covers up. Then he bent down and kissed her forehead and said "sweet dreams." He walked back over to his chair and sat down and grabbed her hand again. She was asleep again within minutes.

This routine continued a couple more times before morning came.

When Ron and Ginny arrived the pair were still asleep. Ron went over to Harry and shook his shoulder to wake him up. Seeing that Hermione was still asleep Harry got up and walked out to the hallway and out to get some fresh air with them.

"How is she?" Ginny asked

"She's OK. She's in a lot of pain. Madam Pomfrey had to come in every couple of hours and give her a pain potion. She had to give her a sleeping potion a couple of times as well. She was having nightmares, so I would wake her up and she would cry for a few minutes before she nodded back off to sleep. It was a long night," said Harry with a sigh.

Ron then asked "What did Madam Pomfrey say?"

Harry sighed again, "She said that Hermione would be OK but that it would take a while for her to be back to normal both physically and mentally after everything that happened yesterday. She said that the fact that she was muggleborn and Malfoy was a pureblood made the pregnancy really hard on Hermione. She said that Prof. Snape had been brewing a special potion for Hermione to help keep her strong and maintain the pregnancy. She said that was probably the only reason Hermione was still alive right now."

"What?" Ginny and Ron exclaimed at the same time

"Yeah, I guess there's some old magic that prevented muggleborns from carrying a purebloods child to term and that Snape had invented a potion to counteract it. Weird isn't it? Who would have thought Snape would care about muggleborns," asked Harry.

"Anyway, there's another way purebloods ensured that the bloodlines remain pure should a pregnancy continue …apparently if they struck the woman in anger, this would terminate the pregnancy and most likely kill the witch. Because Hermione was taking Snape's potion, she was able to survive."

"That is just sick…"said Ron. "I'm ashamed to be a pureblood right now."

"Yeah. It is sick," said Harry. Noticing Ginny was silent; Harry asked

"Ginny are you OK?"

"Oh, yes, I was just thinking Harry, your mom was a muggleborn and your dad was a pureblood…do you think she had a hard time? Do you think that she took that potion too," asked Ginny, obviously curious.

"I don't know. Madam Pomfrey said that Snape invented it because he had a friend that needed it but she wouldn't' say anything else. I'm pretty sure Snape would never help my mother so maybe she didn't have any problems, or maybe she just suffered through." At this Harry frowned thinking that he could cause his mother pain before he was even born.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't mean to upset you. It just popped into my head," said Ginny.

"It's ok Ginny, I'll suppose I should ask Lupin and see if he knows anything."

The three then stated their way back to the hospital wing and just as the they were about to open the doors they heard Hermione screaming and sobbing. They ran as fast as they could to her bed to see what was going on…

"MALFOY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING" yelled Ron.

Harry ran right up to Draco and physically dragged him out of the hospital wing

Ginny ran straight to a sobbing Hermione, hugging her and saying "it's OK, he's gone now" over and over again to try and calm her down.

Seeing that Ginny could handle Hermione, Ron went out to help Harry.

When Ron walked out the doors, he found Malfoy slumped on the floor crying with a stunned Harry just watching him. "Harry, what's going on?"

"I don't' know Ron. As soon as I got him out here he slumped down on the floor and started crying. I don't' know what to do with him? What do we do?"

"I don't know Harry; I'm not a girl. Maybe we should get Ginny…no wait she's with Hermione…should we get Madam Pomfrey or Snape?"

At this Malfoy snorted…

"Malfoy, what the hell is going on? What did you do to Hermione to make her so upset?" Harry asked now thoroughly annoyed.

Draco composed himself somewhat before replying, "Nothing. I didn't do anything. I just went in to see her and she lost it. She said the most horrible things to me… told me it was all my fault, that I ruined her life, that she hated me, said she never wanted to see me again, that she couldn't even look at me, asked me how I could do this to her…" At this Malfoy started sobbing again.

Several awkward minutes passed and then Malfoy started to get up and walk away. He turned and looked Harry right in the eyes and said "I'll stay away if that's what she wants but if she needs anything let me know."

Harry nodded and Malfoy left.

"Blimey Harry, that was mental" said Ron

"I know. Let's go check on Hermione and see what's going on" said Harry turning back to the Hospital wing.

Ginny seemed to have been able to calm Hermione down because she was laying back in bed, only sniffling every now and then when they arrived at her bed.

"Hermione, are you OK," Harry said grabbing her hand to hold.

"Yeah, I'm sorry you guys had to see that"…she said with her head low and not making eye contact with anyone.

At this Harry pulled her chin up so that she could meet his eyes and said "Hermione you have nothing to be sorry for, understand?"

She only nodded and then pulled Harry into a hug and started sobbing again on his shoulder.

After a few minutes Harry sat down on the bed and let her continue to cry on his shoulder…

Ginny and Ron excused themselves and said they would come back after lunch to check in.

At some point Madam Pomfrey came in to give Hermione her pain potion and noticing how upset she was, also gave her a calming and sleeping potion. A few minutes later, Hermione was asleep curled up against Harry.

Harry turned to Madam Pomfrey and said "Thank you for taking such good care of her."

"Nonsense, it's my job Harry" replied Madam Pomfrey

"What can I do for her to make this better?" asked Harry

She sighed and said "Harry, there's not much more you can do. She's going to need time to deal with this and she's going to need her friends for support."

"I just feel so helpless" said Harry.

"I know but you are doing exactly what she needs right now, being a great friend to her" said Madam Pomfrey.

Resigning himself to long day, Harry put his head back to get some rest while Hermione was asleep.

 

**Chapter 2**

Harry wasn't sure how long he had been asleep but the voices of Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonnagell woke him. Madam Pomfrey was filling the Professor in on how Hermione was doing. Hermione was still sound asleep leaning against Harry on the bed.

When she was done, Professor McGonnagell turned to Harry and asked "What are you doing here Potter?"

"I'm keeping an eye on Hermione, Professor" replied Harry as if this was obvious.

"Potter you can't miss your classes, Miss Granger will be fine here."

"No, Professor, I'm not going to classes as I'm not leaving Hermione."

"Potter, really, she'll be perfectly fine here without you," said Professor McGonnagell more sternly.

"I'm sorry Professor, but I'm not leaving her side," Harry replied back with a look that said there was no changing his mind.

"Fine, Mr. Potter, I will have Mr. Weasley bring you the assignments and you and Ms. Granger can catch up on them together" Professor McGonnagell replied with a heavy sigh.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Be sure to tell Miss Granger of the arrangement and I'll be back later to check on her" and then she turned and left the hospital wing.

Harry put his head back against the pillows and began to think about this whole mess. How could he have let this happen to Hermione. She's his best friend, she should have been able to talk to him about what was going on. He couldn't help but feel he had failed her. If he had just ... What? I mean there was no way he could have known she was seeing Malfoy. That would have never crossed his mind as being the problem, or that she was pregnant. Merlin, he still couldn't believe it. Malfoy of all people. How in the world did that happen? I mean they told us how it happened but it's still unbelievable. If he was honest with himself, he knew that he would have been furious with Hermione if she told him before all this happened. It's only now that he'd seen how hurt she was and how much she's suffered that he could see beyond the fact that it was Malfoy that did all of this. No, that's not true... what he wouldn't give to have a few minutes alone with that vile Slytherin and show him exactly how he felt. Well one thing was for certain and that was that he was going to make sure that he never let anyone hurt Hermione again. He would make sure that she could talk to him about anything from now on.

And when she got over all this and started dating again, he would make sure that the guys had to get through him first. He would have to start acting more like how Ron did with Ginny, after all Hermione needed someone to look out for her. Why hadn't he been doing this the whole time? He knew what the other guys were like, having heard way more than he wanted to in the dorms. Who was he kidding, he knew what he was like. He may not have bragged to his friends but he was certainly not inexperienced. What made him think Hermione wasn't doing the same things as everyone else...It was like he didn't realize she was a girl. Well, that's not true, he certainly realized she was a girl when she wore those tight t-shirts or those short skirts or...never mind, that's not the point. He always felt uncomfortable when the other guys brought up Hermione, some of them had even said they asked her out, but she always shot them down. He never wanted to talk about it so he was happy to change the subject, but now that's he's thinking back she must have said no because she was with Malfoy. Yuck...

Just when Harry couldn't stand his thoughts anymore, Hermione started to wake up. She sighed and snuggled closer to Harry before whispering a "thank you."

"For what" said Harry

"For staying with me."

"Don't worry about it Hermione. Now, let me go get Madam Pomfrey, she told me to get her as soon as you woke up" said Harry moving himself out of Hermione's arms and off the bed.

As he was walking to the office Ron and Ginny came in to see Hermione.

"Go on over, she just woke up, I'm going to get Madam Pomfrey" said Harry.

Harry went back over to Hermione's bed and said "Madam Pomfrey says you have 10 minutes and then she's kicking you out."

"What? Why do you get to stay?" said Ron

"Because I'm me," said Harry chuckling with a huge grin. "I really don't know, she just said to tell you & Ginny that you had 10 minutes before she needed to treat Hermione."

"Oh, OK. That reminds me, Professor McGonagall told me that I was to collect all of your and Hermione's assignments for the next week. How did you manage missing class for a week?" Ron asked.

"What? Harry you can't miss class for a week! Neither can I. I'm not going to be in the hospital all week and I intend on going back tomorrow if I can convince Madam Pomfrey to let me out of here. Where is she anyway?" Hermione was getting quite worked up and was trying to get up out of bed.

Harry rushed over and sat down next to her, gently putting his hand on her legs. "Hermione, please calm down." He shot Ron a nasty glare for upsetting her.

Ginny quickly wacked Ron in the arm as well

"Sorry about that…" said Ron quietly. "Hermione, Harry's right, you need to calm down."

Ginny spoke up to change the mood, "So how are you feeling, Hermione?"

"I'm OK. Actually, I feel pretty good after that nap this morning" said Hermione with a small smile.

"Good, I'm glad. Everyone's been asking about you. Luna and Cho said they would stop by later to see you. And Pansy said she would come by after lunch with Blaise. Theo and Charlie sent owls this morning to see how you were doing. They were furious about the whole thing and said they would be happy to hex Draco repeatedly for you. They both said they would try and stop by and see you this week" finished Ginny.

Noticing the stares of Ron and Harry, Ginny said "What?"

Hermione noticed the confusion on the boys faces and started to clarify what Ginny said "Look, when I started seeing Draco, I started to spend more time with his friends and we would go out every Saturday night to this club in Knockturn Alley. It was sort of couple's thing at first, but we all became close and it turned into just a bunch of friends going out. Luna's boyfriend already graduated so he would meet us there. Cho is seeing Blaise, I was with Draco, Pansy would just go and flirt with all the guys, and Ginny …" then Hermione suddenly stopped and looked to Ginny

"I'm seeing Theo, so he would meet us there with Luna's boyfriend" Ginny said confidently staring straight at Ron.

"What? You have a boyfriend? Theo who? What year is he? Is he a Slytherin?" Ron stuttered out quickly

"Theodore Nott. He just graduated and yes, he was a Slytherin, and before you ask, he's 17" said Ginny.

"17! Ginny you're only 15!" yelled Ron.

"Honestly Ron, grow up." Replied Ginny

"Who's Charlie?" asked Harry, hoping to distract Ginny and Ron

"My brother" replied Ginny as if Harry was an idiot.

"I don't understand, how did Charlie know what happened?" asked Ron

"Theo is working with Charlie at the dragon reserve and when I told Theo what happened he told Charlie. Charlie would sometimes come home on Saturday's with Theo to meet his girlfriend at the club, so we would see him a lot and he's always liked Hermione" answered Ginny.

"Charlie has a girlfriend?" asked Ron

"Yes, he's seeing one of Theo's older sisters, Nicole. She's quite beautiful. Charlie seems extremely happy with her" said Ginny.

"It's true, he can't take his eyes, or his hands, off her. It's adorable, really" said Hermione laughing. Then she continued, "Ginny tell them both I'm fine and I said thank you for the offer but I'm perfectly capable of hexing Draco myself."

"OK…" said Ginny then she continued "Hermione, you're not going to go back to him, are you?" "I mean I know you've had problems before and have gone back to him. I just don't want to see you keep getting hurt." "I know he loves you, but there has to be a point where that's just not enough, right?" Ginny asked hopefully.

Hermione sighed heavily, ran her hands through her hair and then replied, "Honestly, Ginny, I just don't know." Seeing the looks on Ron and Harry's faces she continued, "I mean my head knows I should end it, stop seeing him, stay away from him, and hex him to oblivion, but my heart doesn't want to listen." "I feel like I can't breathe without him, like my world is incomplete unless I have him with me…. but my heart also aches even when he's with me." "I know it's a bad relationship, that it's only going to end in more heartache, but I can't seem to make it stop." "I mean, love isn't supposed to feel like this, is it? It's not supposed to hurt so much, right?"

"No, it's not, Hermione," said Ginny quietly. Then she continued, "Ron, you may want to leave now." Pausing she turned back to Hermione, and noticing that he chose not to leave she said, "Theo and I are completely in love and it's nothing like the relationship you have with Draco." "I don't mean to say that so you will feel bad, just so that you can see how different it is to your relationship." Seeing Hermione nod, she continued, "He's sweet and kind and loving and when we fight it's usually over something silly and we both have a good laugh afterwards. He never hits me or is forceful with me. He doesn't insult me or make fun of me or antagonize me. I don't feel anything but happy when I think of him, or when we're together. He's patient and funny and never pushes me to do things I'm not ready for." "I just want you to think about your relationship with Draco, really think about it Hermione." "Can you say the same? Do you think that he treats you the way you deserve to be treated? Don't you think you deserve to feel happy all the time?"

"There are so many guys who would love to be with you, Hermione." Seeing Hermione scrunch up her face, Ginny continued "yes, Hermione, really. Cedric has been dying to ask you out for ages. Him and Draco have exchanged quite a few words over the last couple of months." Seeing the question in Hermione's eyes, she continued on, "Ok, how about Seamus, and Dean, they both asked you out recently." "Then there was Blaise before he started seeing Cho, those three Hufflepuffs, Ernie McMillan, and that's just this year Hermione. Never mind all of my brothers."

"What do you mean, all of your brothers?" Asked Ron

Ignoring Ron, Ginny went on talking to Hermione, "Charlie definitely has a thing for you, and I'm sure the day you become of age, he will be asking you out. And Fred and George have been asking you out for the last two years."

Ron and Harry were staring at Hermione with their mouths hanging wide open. How did they miss all of this?

"OK, Ginny, I get it. There are other guys out there to date… but how do I do it?" asked Hermione quietly.

"How do you date?" questioned Ron

"No, you idiot, that's not what she meant," said Ginny rolling her eyes. "She meant how does she get over Draco."

"Oh" said Ron quietly.

Madam Pomfrey then came over and told Ginny and Ron they had to go. Ginny said she would come back after dinner and that Pansy and Blaise would be by soon. They both gave Hermione a quick hug and then left.

Harry was staring out the window while Madam Pomfrey gave Hermione all of her potions and then went to get her some food for lunch.

"Harry, you're awfully quiet," said Hermione

"Yeah, sorry, how are you feeling?" asked Harry

"I'm fine, Harry, what's wrong? Are you mad at me after hearing all that?" asked Hermione

"No, of course I'm not mad at you, Hermione."

"But…"

"It's just, I feel like I've been blind. Like I don't really know you at all. All this time you were seeing Malfoy, going to clubs, and I didn't even know you were friends with half of those people. It's like you have this whole other side of you that I don't know." Said Harry quietly.

"No, Harry, that's not true." She got up quietly and walked up behind Harry, putting her arms around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. She continued "You are my best friend, you know the real me. Never doubt that, Harry." "Harry I'm always me, it's just as a girlfriend I'm more physical is all. They saw Hermione the girlfriend, not Hermione. Do you understand the difference? "

Harry shook his head no, so she went on "We would go out dancing for a few hours a week, we had a good time, and would dance and talk about everyday things, about boys, drink a little and then we wouldn't hang out again until the next week. It was fun and carefree and we all enjoyed each other's company but it was superficial. They saw me with Draco, snogging and holding hands, but underneath what they saw was still the real me. The me that only you know. The me that is your best friend. Now, do you understand?"

"Yeah, I do," said Harry smiling and he turned around and wrapped his arms around Hermione hugging her tightly. "Thanks, Hermione."

"OK, Miss Granger, I got you a nice lunch, so let's have you sit down and try and eat something," said Madam Pomfrey with a plate full of food.

"I'm really not hungry, Madam Pomfrey" replied Hermione

"You must try and eat something Miss Granger, you need to get your strength back."

"I guess I can try," sighed Hermione

"Ok, I'll leave you to it. Mr. Potter, I also got a plate for you, I'll be right back with it."

Hermione sat back down on the bed and brought the tray over to her and looked at the food. It looked perfectly fine but she had no desire to eat. She just stared at it. Harry picked up the fork and handed it to her. She shuffled the food around the plate with it and then put the fork back down, and sighed. "I'm just not hungry Harry."

"Hermione you haven't eaten in over 24 hours, you have to be hungry, just try and eat a little." Said Harry.

Trying to please Harry, she took a bite of the chicken, chewed and swallowed it. Then she took a bite of her potatoes, did the same and then put the fork down. She took a sip of her pumpkin juice and then pushed the tray away.

"Is that all you're going to eat?" asked Harry

"Yeah, I'm really not hungry, Harry."

Madam Pomfrey returned with Harry's food and gave it to him. She looked sternly at Hermione and said, "You need to eat something Miss Granger."

Hermione replied, "I had a couple of bites but I'm really not hungry."

"OK, Miss Granger, we'll try again tonight. Now get some more rest." And she disappeared into her office again.

Harry started digging into his lunch; he didn't realize how hungry he was. He looked up and saw Hermione smiling at him.

Just then Pansy and Blaise came in.

"Hi Mia, How are you?" asked Pansy as she walked over to give Hermione a hug, followed by Blaise.

"I'm OK, feeling better." Replied Hermione

"Aren't you going to eat your lunch Mia?" asked Blaise

"No, I'm not hungry," said Hermione

"Mia, you need to eat to get your strength back," answered Blaise as he picked up the fork and put some food on it. He then brought it over to Hermione like he was going to feed her.

"Blaise, honestly, I can feed myself!" huffed Hermione.

Harry started to laugh and when they all looked at him, he said, "I tried to get her to eat too, but I didn't think of trying to feed her myself. I just may try that if she doesn't eat dinner." He followed this with a wink in Hermione's direction.

"So, what's going on? When do you get out of here? What did Madam Pomfrey say?" asked Pansy.

"Nothing. I slept this morning and just woke up about an hour ago. Madam Pomfrey hasn't said when I can leave yet. I hope it's soon." Said Hermione.

"And…" replied Pansy

"And what?" asked Hermione

"How are you medically, physically, emotionally? Honestly, Mia, what did you think I meant when I asked how you were doing?" Huffed Pansy.

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm sore, am taking lots of potions, had a nice nap this morning. That's it." Said Hermione quickly.

"Mia! Medically, how are you medically? Are there any problems?"

"Madam Pomfrey's not sure. She said we will have to wait and see." Said Hermione quietly.

"How long until you know?" asked Pansy quickly?

At this Hermione turned bright red and said "Pansy!"

"Look Mia both Blaise and I are purebloods we understand this old magic and how bad the consequences can be, we're worried about you. How long until you know?" Pansy asked again.

"Fine. I'll know in 1-2 months, if it takes longer than that, it's likely there's been permanent damage." Huffed Hermione. "Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape think that the potion may help with that as well but nothing is certain."

"What are you talking about?" asked Harry

They had all forgotten he was there. Hermione looked to Pansy and Blaise to explain.

Pansy started "The old magic that caused Mia so many problems with her pregnancy has other consequences. Professor Snape's potion was helping with most of the short term problems but there were still some long term issues that he wasn't sure about." She paused…

"Well, what is it?" asked Harry quickly

Blaise finished talking for Pansy "Basically, Muggleborns were never supposed to be able to withstand carrying a pureblood's child. If by some chance they weren't killed by the pureblood but still had a miscarriage, then they would become sterile. The only way for a muggleborn to avoid either being killed, or becoming infertile, was to carry the purebloods child to term. Which is still risky."

"I swear I am going to kill Malfoy!" yelled Harry.

"Harry, stop. Professor Snape is hoping that since the potion was able to counteract one side effect, my death, that it will also counteract the infertility. He wants me to keep taking it until we know." Said Hermione.

"How will you know? What will happen?" asked Harry.

Again Hermione blushed, " I have to wait until my cycle returns."

"What?" asked Harry?

"Honestly Potter. She has to wait to see if she gets her period." Huffed Pansy.

"Oh. Sorry." Said Harry "Hermione, did you know all this?"

"Yes, but I didn't know until after I found out I was pregnant. I did the pregnancy test by myself and when it came back blue positive, I panicked. I came down to see Madam Pomfrey right away, I was hysterical, I'm surprised she could even understand what I was saying, and I could not stop crying. Anyway, she did the test herself and again it came back blue positive."

"Hermione what does 'blue positive' mean?" asked Harry

"It was a boy. I was pregnant with a boy." Answered Hermione quietly, then continued on with the story, "She then asked who the father was and when I told her it was Draco, I thought she was going to faint. I just thought she was shocked that we were together, but she immediately started pulling books off her shelf and kept asking me if I was sure I was a muggleborn. Was I adopted, was there a distant relative that was magical, did it skip a generation? She kept firing off questions and looking into different books, all the while getting paler. I started to get nervous and asked her what was going on. She then sent a patronis to Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore to come to the hospital wing immediately. Well, this didn't really help my nerves. I just found out I was pregnant, why did I have to tell my professors right now. Shouldn't I at least be able to tell Draco first? What about my parents? I couldn't believe any of it was actually happening."

"Then I started throwing up, I was so upset and was queasy anyway, and it really didn't take much to set me off. So when all the professors showed up, it was quite a scene. I was puking into a barrel and Madam Pomfrey was white as a ghost, sitting at her desk surrounded by at least a dozen books, with others flying off the shelves towards her. They seemed to know right away that something was very wrong. They came in, shut the door, sat down and waited for Madam Pomfrey to explain. She just said one sentence 'Miss Granger is pregnant with Mr. Malfoy's child.' They immediately looked at me, terrified. I'll never forget it."

"It's kind of a blur after that, but Professor Snape did tell me about all the possible problems, complications and consequences of carrying a pureblood's child. He told me that I could potentially avoid all of these if I terminated the pregnancy early on. He also said that carrying the child to term was an option but I would have significant complications during the pregnancy. He said the most dangerous thing would be if I had a miscarriage, it didn't matter whether it happened naturally or if it was forced magically. I insisted on having time to think everything over before I made a decision and explained that Draco didn't even know yet. Then he told me about the potion and told me I had to take it everyday, no matter what until I decided what I wanted to do. He told me to stay away from Draco as much as possible. He said he could tell Draco, that it would be safer that way in case Draco got angry, but I insisted that I wanted to be the one to tell him."

"Anyway, I guess I got a little off track. Bottom line is I won't know if I suffered any permanent damage for another month or two." Said Hermione.

"Look Mia, I'm going to do a little research on this. I have tons of dark books at home that go on and on about purebloods. I'll see what I can find out." Said Pansy

"Yeah, I'll do the same Mia," said Blaise. "Also, I know Draco's mum was here this morning, I think Professor Snape called her in. She was going to take Draco home with her after his classes today, so I'll ask him to look at his books as well and let me know what he finds, this way you don't have to see him."

"Sure, thanks guys" said Hermione.

"No problem, Mia. Now we're going to let you get some rest. We'll check on you later, OK?" said Pansy.

"Yeah, thanks, I'm pretty tired." Replied Hermione.

Harry watched them walk out and then turned to Hermione's bed and brought the covers up and tucked her in. He fluffed her pillow a little and pushed some of her hair behind her ears. He said "sweet dreams" and gave her a kiss on the forehead then turned to look out the window again. His head was swimming with way too much information and it was only the middle of the day…

Harry looked out the window while Hermione slept for quite a few hours. Madam Pomfrey would come check on her every hour but suddenly Harry heard something that was not the usual noise that she made and he turned quickly with his wand out in reaction to it.

"Potter, Put down your wand this instant" said Professor Snape.

"You shouldn't have snuck up on me" answered Harry while lowering his wand

"Potter, I need to speak with Miss Granger in private"

"She's sleeping, Professor, and I'm not leaving."

"I see that she's sleeping, and we will only be a few minutes"

"We?" asked Harry

"Potter, this is not your concern, now leave."

"No." said Harry defiantly

"Potter, you are trying my patience."

"I'm not leaving." said Harry crossing his arms.

"20 points from Gryffindor and I will continue taking points until you leave"

"Go ahead, but I'm not leaving." said Harry as he walked closer to Prof. Snape

"LEAVE!"

"Make me." said Harry in a deadly whisper.

"Why you little..."

"Severus, it's fine, he's obviously worried about Hermione, let him stay" said Narcissa Malfoy coming into view.

At seeing Narcissa, Harry raised his wand again and pointed it at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to have a talk with Hermione. I'm not going to hurt her, you can lower your wand" replied Narcissa sitting down in a chair next to Hermione's bed.

"You're not going to wake her" said Harry crossing his arms.

"No, I'll wait until she wakes up on her own" replied Narcissa.

Prof. Snape turned to Narcissa and said "Cissy, I really don't think this is a good idea. Potter has not mastered occlumency and you are putting yourself at great risk by talking about this in front of him."

Narcissa turned to look at Prof. Snape then she looked at Harry and finally said "Severus, I understand your concern, but I don't believe Mr. Potter is going to leave and I need to speak with Hermione."

"Yes, but if you come back in a couple days she will be out of the hospital wing and you can speak with her privately in Albus' office" urged Severus.

"No, I must speak with her now, it is very important, that she hears what I have to say now."

"Cissy, this is ridiculous, if Lucius finds out about this, he will kill you just for knowing about this and not telling him" Severus practically yelled at her.

Narcissa let out a great sigh and turned to Harry "Mr. Potter, I believe you are aware of my husbands views on muggleborns, are you not?"

Harry snorted, "yes, you could say that."

Narcissa continued "well, if Lucius were to find out that Draco and Hermione not only were in love but conceived a child together, and I knew about it and I was here, he would most certainly kill me for not telling him about it, but more importantly he would kill Draco and Hermione. I trust that you would do anything to protect Hermione, am I correct?"

"Yes, of course I would do anything for her." said Harry

"Excellent, then we both want the same thing. We want to keep Hermione safe, and to do that, Lucius must never find out about anything regarding her and Draco. Agreed?"

Harry looked warily at Narcissa then at Prof. Snape before finally nodding, "yes." He then sat down in the chair on the other side of Hermione's bed.

Prof. Snape huffed noisily then walked over to look out the window. The three stayed like this until Hermione woke an hour later.

She hadn't opened her eyes yet and called out "Harry, can you get Madam Pomfrey for me, the pain is terrible..."

"Sure, Hermione, I'll go get her" then he turned back to her and said "Hermione, you have a visitor." He then went to get Madam Pomfrey.

Hermione opened her eyes to see Narcissa and said "Mrs. Malfoy, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing, of course" replied Narcissa.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't expect that you would know" said Hermione staring at Prof. Snape accusingly.

At this point Harry and Madam Pomfrey came back and Madam Pomfrey gave Hermione a pain potion and said Hello to Mrs. Malfoy and Prof. Snape. She then told Hermione she would be in her office if she needed her.

Prof. Snape then case several privacy charms before Narcissa continued.

"Now, don't blame Severus dear, I have known since the beginning." replied Narcissa vaguely.

"What do you mean, how did you know?"

"Well, as you may know, I am a Black, and the Black's have an enchanted family tree. The original is in Grimmauld Place however, each member of the Black family can reproduce the family tree in their own home. I have one at Malfoy Manor. Several weeks ago there were some changes to Draco's part of the tree. Your name appeared connected to his and a line indicating a male heir also appeared below both your names." Seeing Hermione's horrified look, Narcissa quickly said "Don't worry dear, Lucius didn't see the changes. As soon as I noticed I quickly called Dobby. I wasn't sure he would come but I had to try. He did come surprisingly and I explained that I needed help and that I was trying to protect you. At first he had no interest in helping myself or Draco but when I explained what Lucius would do to you if he saw these changes, he agreed to help. He put a charm on Draco's part of the tree so that only those that are pure of heart and mean no harm to Draco or his new family will be able to see your name and the baby's. I have been checking it regularly and when I checked on it yesterday, the baby's line was burned out. I contacted Severus right away and he arranged for me to come here today to see you."

Narcissa paused briefly, reached for Hermione's hand and said quietly "I'm so sorry dear. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, thank you though, I appreciate your concern." replied Hermione.

"Hermione, I am going to take Draco home today for a week, so that he can process everything in private and also to give you some space, I hope you do not mind." said Narcissa

"No, I think that's probably a good idea." said Hermione.

"Hermione, I wanted to talk with you about something else as well. I had thought about talking with you about this during the summer when I saw how close the two of you were but I had hoped things would turn out better so I held my tongue. Now that I see how serious things are between you two, I feel I must tell you everything" said Narcissa.

"Cissy, please, I beg you to be careful of what you say" urged Severus as he rushed to her side.

"Severus, I must do this. I feel obligated to tell Hermione what she needs to know to make an informed decision. I was never given that opportunity and she deserves to know."

"Yes, but by doing this, you are also putting Draco at risk." huffed Severus.

"No, I don't believe I am. Hermione loves Draco and will protect his secrets and Mr. Potter has already said he will protect Hermione which means he will not reveal what I am going to say. You and I are both master occlumens so I don't believe what I say will ever be repeated. And if it does then Severus, you especially should know the lengths a mother will go to to protect her child. Do you doubt that I would not do the same?" asked Narcissa sternly.

"No, of course not, but I would rather it not come to that in the first place." replied Severus quietly.

"What are you talking about?" asked Hermione and Harry at the same time. They had been watching the exchange wondering what was going on.

Narcissa sighed, grabbed Prof. Snape's hand and turned back to Hermione and Harry. "Hermione, I feel that you are at a crossroads with Draco and that the choices you make now will affect your future. It is clear to me that Draco loves you very much and I know that you love him as well. But sometimes, love is not enough. I had hoped that Draco did not inherit his father's temper but I now know that he did. Am I correct in presuming this was not the first time Draco has struck you?"

Hermione nodded her response and Harry took her hand in his for support.

Narcissa continued "Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that it will stop. In fact, I can almost guarantee that it will not. Of course Draco will try his hardest but it is in his blood and it IS a part of being with a Malfoy. This is something that I want you to really consider. Are you willing to deal with this for the rest of your life? I don't want you to answer me, I just want you to think about it."

"Another complication of being with Draco is his father. Lucius is extremely prejudiced against muggleborns and if he found out now would try and kill the both of you. If you decide that you do want to stay with Draco, we would have to keep it a secret until the war has been settled. Only then would we know the best way to proceed. It is not possible to know ahead of time, as there are obviously many different ways the war could turn out."

"Finally, the most important fact that you are not aware of yet is that Lucius has arranged for Draco to take the Dark Mark this summer. I have held him off as long as is possible, by taking Draco to France last summer and by keeping him at school all year. Even this week, I am taking him to one of our vacation homes to keep him away from Lucius, but my time is running out and I can only do so much. Once Draco takes the Dark Mark, I will not be able to help him anymore. And your relationship with him will be even more dangerous. Draco knows that I am doing my best to delay this from happening but he also knows that it will happen eventually. I know that he will do everything he can to protect you but I thought that you deserved to know all the facts at this time. I am sure that you are already considering whether or not to continue your relationship with Draco after this week's events and I felt I should give you the chance that I did not receive."

There was a long silence before Hermione said "Thank you Mrs. Malfoy for telling me everything. I truly appreciate it and I understand how dangerous it is for you to have had this conversation with me. I will not reveal or discuss this with anyone outside the four of us."

"Thank you" replied Narcissa

"Mrs. Malfoy, I am curious as to why you decided to tell me all this?" asked Hermione

"Well, Hermione, dear, I have actually become quite fond of you" said Narcissa smiling. "I am not as narrow minded when it comes to blood lines as my husband and I saw how happy you made Draco over the summer. I also realized what a great witch you are ...You are intelligent, witty, beautiful, and strong. You remind me of myself when I was younger and I think it made me realize that you didn't know what you were getting yourself into, just like me. Love makes you do crazy things. I had hoped that things would turn out alright and maybe they still will, but I just wanted to make sure you knew everything before it was too late to turn back."

"Thank you" replied Hermione wiping tears from her eyes.

"You're welcome, I just wish I told you sooner." said Narcissa. She then went over to Hermione and gave her a hug, at which point, Hermione started crying in earnest.

They stayed like that for several minutes before Narcissa pulled away and said "Now, rest up dear, and think about everything I told you before you make a decision. I am going to go get Draco now and I will bring him back on Sunday night. Would you like to see him before we leave?"

"Yes, I think I should talk with him for a couple of minutes. I was pretty hard on him this morning." said Hermione.

"Ok, I will be back in a little bit with him" said Narcissa before she turned and left with Prof. Snape who nodded at Hermione.

"Wow, that was intense" Hermione said turning to Harry.

"Yeah" replied Harry still looking somewhat shocked over all the revelations. Then he said "Hermione, what are you going to do?"

"I have no idea, Harry, none at all. It's all so overwhelming. One thing is for sure, I am glad I know everything now." said Hermione

Harry grabbed her hand again and they sat silently waiting for Draco

 

**Chapter 3**  

Narcissa informed Draco that Hermione would like to see him before they left, so she told him she would wait for him in Prof. Snape's office. Now Draco was on his way to the hospital wing and he was quite nervous. He remembered how angry she was with him this morning and figured she was probably just going to yell at him some more and then end their relationship once and for all. He honestly couldn't blame her. He still couldn't believe this is how they ended up. How did things go so wrong with them? It was him. He was the reason things went wrong. Him and his jealousy of Potter. That was the only thing they ever fought over. He remembered how great their summer had been, just the two of them. How in love they were. Then when they got back to school, things changed. They were sneaking around because she wasn't ready to tell her friends yet. She had to spend time with Potter as well as him.

He remembered one particular fight a few weeks into school...

"Mia, I'm sick of sneaking around and hiding, let's just tell our friends and then we won't have to worry about this anymore." said Draco

"No, Draco, I'm not ready to tell my friends yet. They wouldn't understand." replied Hermione.

"What is there to understand? You are dating the hottest guy in school and he wants to spend all his time with you." Draco said with his famous smirk.

Hermione smacked him in the butt and said "seriously Draco, it's not that simple, we've been through this before. Harry and Ron will not understand."

"Yes, you're right, but will they ever? I mean how long do we have to hide it from them? At some point you are going to have to tell them and I just don't see why we can't do it now." said Draco

"No, I'm not ready. I need to ease them into it. Start bringing you up more and talk about you in a positive way. You need to stop giving them grief and change the way you act around them. If we do this increasingly over the next couple of months, we should be able to tell them around Christmas." said Hermione.

"Christmas! It's only September Mia, that's months away!" yelled Draco

"Draco, what do you want me to do? They are my best friends! I'm not going to lose them!" yelled Hermione

"What you really mean is that you're not going to chance losing Harry for me" snapped Draco.

"That's not what I said and you know it. Harry and Ron are my best friends and in case you've forgotten your self proclaimed enemy. You hate each other and they will see my being with you as a betrayal to them." replied Hermione with forced calmness.

"You're right we do hate each other and I honestly don't care what they think. I don't understand why you do. You say you love me, but you're afraid to tell anyone else. How is that love? If you really loved me you wouldn't care what anyone else thought, would you?" asked Draco

"That not fair Draco. You're asking me to chose between our relationship and my best friends. I won't let you do that to me." Hermione fiercely replied.

"I guess that's my answer then. By you refusing to chose, you are automatically telling me that you chose them." said Draco turning his back to her.

"MERLIN DRACO, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? GIVE UP EVERYTHING FOR YOU? WHEN DOES IT STOP? YOU CAN'T CONTROL EVERY ASPECT OF MY LIFE, THAT'S NOT LOVE!" yelled Hermione

"LET'S JUST SAY WHAT THIS IS REALLY ABOUT, SHALL WE? THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOUR BEST FRIENDS HARRY AND RON, THIS IS ABOUT HARRY AND ONLY HARRY. I KNOW YOU WANT HIM AS MORE THAN A FRIEND. I SEE THE WAY YOU LOOK AT HIM WHEN YOU THINK NO ONE'S LOOKING. YOU SPEND WAY MORE TIME WITH HIM THAN WITH RON, AND WAY MORE TIME WITH HIM THAN I SPEND WITH ANY OF MY FRIENDS. YOU ALWAYS TALK ABOUT HIM, SIT NEAR HIM, STAND UP FOR HIM, HELP HIM. YOU DO EVERYTHING FOR HIM. YOU LOVE HIM, DON'T YOU?" Draco screamed back at her.

Hermione looked like she had been hit with bludger. It took her several minutes of opening and closing her mouth before she responded. Her voice was quiet but fierce, there was a scary look in her eye that told Draco she meant business, "Listen to me Draco, and listen good because I am not going to have this conversation with you again. Do you understand?" she waited for him to nod that he did and then continued "Any feelings I may or may not have for Harry have nothing to do with us. I have given my mind, body, heart and soul to YOU, Draco. I am in a relationship with YOU, I am in love with YOU, and I am committed to YOU. If that is not enough for YOU, then we have a serious problem."

Draco swallowed hard. He certainly didn't see that coming. That was a very Slytherin thing of her to do. He sat thinking furiously about what she said. She didn't deny that she had feelings for Harry, she didn't lie, she put it all on Draco to decide if her love was enough for him. Shit. Now what was he supposed to do. She's given him everything he could ask for from a girl. He would look like a complete ass if he said it wasn't enough.

Hermione cleared her throat and asked "Well Draco, is what I have to offer enough for you or not?"

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Yes, of course, Mia. I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking." said Draco.

"Then we agree that we will slowly acclimate Harry and Ron to you and our relationship?" asked Hermione

"Yes, but can we agree to tell them by Christmas?" asked Draco

"Yes, I think that sounds like a good plan." replied Hermione

Draco shook his head to rid himself of his memories. He was finally at the hospital wing. He paused, gathering his thoughts, took a deep breath and walked in. He walked over to her bed and found Potter standing by the window looking out. He looked at Mia, god she looked terrible.

"Hey" he said walking over to a chair and sitting down by her bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked

"I'm OK." she replied

He wasn't sure what to say to her so he settled with "My mom said you wanted to see me before I left?"

She sighed "yeah, I thought we should talk a little before you went home. I was kind of emotional this morning and we haven't really had a chance to talk since all of this happened."

He nodded and said "yeah, we haven't"

"Mia..."

"Draco..."

They both started at the same time. They smiled and Draco used his hand to indicate she should go first.

Hermione gathered all of her Gryffindor courage, she was going to need it. She had been going through everything in her head and she just had to get it all out in the open. She took a deep breath and started...

"Draco, I've been thinking non-stop for the last 24 hours. I'm so confused. I know I love you and I know you love me. But I'm not happy with the way things have gone. I'm only 16 and I've had to deal with a pregnancy and now a miscarriage and the possibility of never being able to have children. Never mind the repeated physical abuse and the emotional damage, and that's just considering me."

"We have to worry about more than me if we are going to stay together. What are the consequences of your father finding out?" Hermione looked at Draco and saw him visibly flinch. She continued "We wouldn't even be able to tell him until this war is over. You know better than me what to expect from him. However, what little I know of him from the Department of Mysteries, is that he has no reservations about killing me. Honestly, what do you think he's going to say, 'Well Draco now that you've fallen in love with a mudblood, I'll have to change my ways and welcome her into the family?' You know that's not likely to happen."

"Then there's the fact that we are clearly on opposite sides of this war. Eventually, something has to give. I'm pretty sure that a marriage between a Death Eater and an Order of the Pheonix member is not going to fly with either side. Even ignoring my bloodline, I am not going to change sides and you have little choice in the matter as well, given that your family is on the other side."

Draco was listening intently and was getting more depressed with every word she said. "So you are saying it's over." he replied.

"I don't know Draco. If it were just one thing, maybe we could figure it out, but I don't know how we can deal with so many things working against us." replied Hermione.

"Even if we took a break and waited until the war was over, assuming the light side won and then got back together, we would still have to deal with our issues as a couple. The physical abuse, the possibility that even if I can have children, I may not be able to have YOUR children because of your temper and our blood status. Are you willing to go without children just to be with me? Because I'm not so sure I am. And that's what it really comes down to, our relationship."

"I know Mia, I hear what you are saying, I do. It's just I love you so much, I can't bear to think of my life without you in it. I know I screwed up and I don't deserve you but I don't think I can live without you." Draco said while wiping away the tears that were streaming down his face.

Hermione at this point was sobbing and wiping away her own tears "I know Draco, I know. But I think it's too much for us to fix. It doesn't mean I don't love you, it's just that love isn't enough for us to make this relationship work."

Draco knew he was going to break down soon, so he got up with tears still running down his face and walked over to Hermione. He kissed her forehead and said "I love you, I will ALWAYS love you Mia. Never doubt that." And then he turned away and walked out of the hospital wing trying with all his might to hold in the avalanche of emotions until he got to his room.

Harry had stayed the whole time while they talked, not trusting Malfoy alone with Hermione. He kept his back to them looking out the window, to give them some sense of privacy. He was emotionally drained just from listening to them. He couldn't believe how strong Hermione was during the whole thing. However, as soon as the hospital doors closed behind Malfoy, Hermione lost it. She was sobbing uncontrollably and he walked over to her bed, sat down and gathered her in his arms. There was nothing else he could do. He whispered encouraging words to her every few minutes while she cried. After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only an hour she finally fell asleep, exhausted in his arms. She was so upset that she was still gasping for air every few minutes in her sleep. The sight of this made his heart break. He once again vowed to do everything he could to protect her from now on. He didn't know how but he swore he would never let her hurt like this again.

Harry had dozed off while holding Hermione and was suddenly awoken by Prof. McGonnagell. "Sorry, Harry, but I need to talk to you."

Harry rubbed his eyes, put his glasses back on, checked to make sure Hermione was still asleep, and then quietly said "no problem, Professor, what's going on?"

"I've just returned from visiting Miss Granger's parents to inform them of her condition, and I'm afraid they did not take it very well..." she sighed and then continued "In fact her mother was furious and has insisted upon seeing Miss Granger. As she is not strong enough to travel to them, they will need to come here. This creates some problems as they are muggles. I have spoken with Professor Dumbledore and he has arranged for a port key to bring the Grangers to his office in an hour. We will need to bring Miss Granger to Prof. Dumbledore's office at that time. I need to let Miss Granger know what's going on now as there isn't much time and I'm sure she will want to prepare for this meeting."

"Sure, I understand, Professor." Then Harry started to gently nudge Hermione, while whispering "Hermione, time to wake up" to which Hermione snuggled closer to Harry and hugged him tighter, protesting waking up.

Harry laughed and said "come on Hermione, Professor McGonnagell needs to talk to you" while pushing her hair out of her face.

Hermione groaned and then pushed herself up away from Harry and looked to her Professor, while rubbing her eyes. "Sorry Professor."

"Nonsense Miss Granger, you need your rest. I'm sorry I had to wake you. I have just come from meeting with your parents, as I had to inform them that you were injured and in the hospital."

"What! What did you tell them?" asked Hermione

"I told them that you had been injured and that you were recovering in the hospital wing. That you had internal injuries, blood loss, broken bones, and severe bruising. I also told them that while your injuries were serious, you were expected to make a full recovery. I did not tell them any details of how you were injured or who was responsible and I also did not tell them about your pregnancy, miscarriage and potential fertility issues. I felt that was up to you to decide how much you wanted them to know. It is only my responsibility to let them know that you were injured and that you are recovering. The details are for you to relay, if you choose. That said, as you are not well enough to travel, they will be arriving to see you in one hour in Professor Dumbledore's office."

"One hour, that doesn't give me much time...does it?" said Hermione almost to herself, then she said "Professor, I'm not sure I can walk all the way to Professor Dumbledore's office."

"There is a passageway from the hospital wing that is much shorter. If it's OK with you, I was going to have Mr. Potter escort you along with Madam Pomfrey." replied Prof. McGonnagell

"Yes, that's fine, thank you...Professor, what information are my parents allowed access to? By that I mean, is anything that has occurred within the past two days protected and confidential, even though I am under age?" asked Hermione

"I had a feeling you were going to ask that Miss Granger. Because you are muggleborn, you have a magical guardian, and the guardian is always the head of house. The magical guardian, in this case me, has access to all health information, however, it is up to the magical guardian in consultation with the muggleborn whether or not any information is relayed to the non-magical parents. In the past magical guardians have followed the wishes of the muggleborn, however, if the muggleborn is unable to make this decision, then the magical guardian will make the decision in the best interest of the muggleborn. So Miss Granger, what information are you comfortable telling your parents?" asked Professor McGonnagell

"I honestly don't know. The problem is they are both doctors and they are going to want very specific information about what exactly is wrong with me. They are going to take one look at me and know that it wasn't a fall down the stairs. They are going to want to know where Draco is. They are going to want answers. My mom will insist that I see an outside doctor and probably a shrink as well. I wouldn't be surprised if she tries to take me home." said Hermione

"But I think if I tell them what happened with Draco, about the abuse and the fight and explain that our magic sort of exploded around us and that caused my injuries, I'm telling them the truth. I won't tell them about the pregnancy unless I have to but I still think that they can know about all my injuries without that info. They can just be told that I suffered injuries to my reproductive organs and we won't know for a while if the damage if permanent. All the other stuff is fine for them to know about. I would just rather not have to talk about the pregnancy and miscarriage if it can be avoided. I think I'll tell them in time, just not now. Does that seem like a good plan to you?"

"Yes, Miss Granger, it does. I understand your reluctance to discuss your pregnancy and respect your decision. I will let Madam Pomfrey know and she will come and get you and Mr. Potter in a little bit to take you up to Professor Dumbledore's office."

"Thanks Professor" replied Hermione.

"You're awfully quiet Harry, what are you thinking about?"

"You. How complicated this all is. How you must be feeling. How much I wish I could make it all go away and protect you" replied Harry.

"Oh, Harry. Thank you." said Hermione as she gave Harry a hug and a kiss on the cheek, earning a blush from him.

She laughed and then said "Really Harry, Thank you for everything. I don't know how I could have gotten through all of this without you."

"Hermione, you're my best friend, I would do anything for you. There's no where else I would rather be than here with you." and he gave her a hug back, kissing her forehead. "Now why don't you try and close your eyes for a little while, I think we have at least a half hour before we have to go."

"OK, that sounds good to me, Harry" and she snuggled up against him again and closed her eyes.

A half hour later Madam Pomfrey was at Hermione's bedside to wake her up and had her take several potions before they left. Hermione refused to let Madam Pomfrey levitate her to Professor Dumbledore's office, so she was forced to lean on Harry for support through the shortcut that took them to the stone Gargoyle and then again for help up the stairs and to her seat in the office. Unfortunately for her, her parents were already there when she arrived and the walk had really done a number on her, so she looked terrible.

Her parents immediately came to her and wrapped her in hugs and gave her kisses, asking if she was alright. She hugged her parents and cried and nodded her head that she was OK. Finally, everyone settled into their chairs and Professor Dumbledore introduced Madam Pomfrey, who gave an overview of Hermione's injuries and her recovery so far. When she was finished, Mrs. Granger asked at least a dozen very specific questions, as Hermione knew she would. She then turned to Hermione and said "Hermione, we need to know how this all happened. Just looking at you, I'm pretty sure this was caused by Draco and especially since he's not here right now. What happened?"

Hermione explained to her parents that when she returned to school, Draco had become increasingly jealous of Harry and that they were fighting all the time. Some of their fights were really bad and he had hit her several times. They had talked about it and Draco was trying to work on controlling his temper but this last fight was so much worse than all the others. It didn't help that she had also lost her temper. Before either of them knew what was happening they were both thrown several feet back in the air, in a sort of magical explosion. That's how she ended up in the hospital. She then explained that her and Draco talked earlier and ended their relationship, saying it was just too bad to fix.

After many tears and hugs Mrs. Granger turned to Dumbledore and said "first, I would like for you to ask Mrs. Malfoy and Draco to join us here now." She stopped and waited for him to ask a house elf to fetch them and then she continued "would you care to explain to me, how all of this happened in your school without you ever knowing?"

Professor Dumbledore stared back at her speechless, he hadn't expected Hermione's mom to get angry with him, no he certainly hadn't expected that.

Mrs. Granger continued on "I sent my daughter here in September, she was happy, healthy and in love and now it appears that she has been physically abused for months, all the while no one noticed?"

Professor Dumbledore tried to speak but he was cut off by Mrs. Granger. It was quite scary how much like Hermione she was. Harry felt himself visibly flinching with each word she spoke. She hadn't raised her voice but her words were fierce and it was clear she meant business.

There was a knock on the door and Narcissa and Draco entered and took seats.

Mrs. Granger continued, "on top of being physically abused, it's obvious that she was pregnant, and again no one noticed? Or did you just think that her mother, her guardian, didn't need to know such information?"

"Mom, I never said I was pregnant..." whispered Hermione

"You didn't have to dear, I'm a doctor and I know the signs and I also know that one of the main complications of a miscarriage is future infertility. I know that you and Draco were in love Hermione, but I thought you were smart enough to not put yourself in this situation."

"Mom you don't understand..." Hermione began but Draco cut her off saying "No Mrs. Granger it wasn't her fault, it was mine."

"Really, Draco, how do you come to that conclusion? Did you rape her?"

"NO, of course not..."

"Then you are both responsible as far as I am concerned. Hermione, we talked about this over the summer and you promised me you would be safe, that you would make sure that you always protected yourself. You said there were spells and potions you could use, that's why we didn't put you on the pill. I know that sometimes in the heat of the moment things can be forgotten but surely you could have gotten the equivalent of the morning after pill. Honestly, Hermione, you could have told me and I could have had your doctor write a prescription for it and I would have sent it to you. It would have only taken a day and it would have been effective."

"Mum, please, can we not do this here?" begged Hermione

"No, Hermione, you need to deal with the consequences of your actions." Mrs. Granger then turned back to Professor Dumbledore and addressed him. "Now, here's what is going to need to happen for Hermione to stay here at your school: First, she will be assigned a guardian while she is here that will keep an eye on her and give me updates."

"I am Miss Granger's magical guardian" said Professor McGonnagell

"Really, and were you here the last few months? Because I don't believe you did a very good job of keeping an eye on my daughter." said Mrs. Granger

"MOM" yelled Hermione

"No, I've had enough, Hermione. You are underage and you clearly aren't making good choices, you can either come home with us, stay here with some strict rules, or we could transfer you to another magical school." Mrs. Granger said staring her daughter down.

"Now as I was saying, Hermione will need a different magical guardian that will keep an eye on her and give me weekly updates. Second, she will need to see a Psychiatrist weekly..."

"I'm sorry, she will need to see a what?" asked Prof. Dumbledore and McGonnagell at the same time.

"A Psychiatrist, surely you have magical shrinks don't you?"

"Mom, doctors are called healers in the magical world." said Hermione and then she turned to the Professors and said "A Psychiatrist is a muggle doctor that specializes in mental health."

"Right, well are there healers that are familiar with muggle psychiatric medicine?"

Prof. Dumbledore then said, "I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be able to look after Miss Granger just fine..."

"You mean like she has been all this time? I don't think you are all understanding me...Hermione WILL NOT stay here unless these things are done. I have no trust in this school anymore or anyone who works here. My daughter is too important to leave this in your hands. You will do what I am asking, or she will leave here with me today. It's up to you" said a very angry Mrs. Granger.

"Mom, please, you can't take me home, I'm a witch I can't go to muggle school. It's part of who I am, please, mom." begged Hermione.

"I know being a witch is a part of who you are Hermione, that's why I contacted the head of that French magical school, Beauxbauton earlier before I arrived by port key. They told me that they would accept you as a transfer student tomorrow if that's what we wanted to do. Apparently, you are well known for your brilliance and they were thrilled to offer you a spot. So, Professor Dumbledore, is Hermione going to stay here or not?"

"Of course she is going to stay here, Albus!" yelled Prof. McGonnagell

Prof. Dumbledore sighed in defeat, he clearly wasn't going to win this battle. "Madam Pomfrey, would you please go to St. Mungo's and see if they have someone on staff that meets Mrs. Granger's requirements and that can meet with Miss Granger weekly?" said Prof. Dumbledore.

"Certainly." said Madam Pomfrey

Harry was floored, he had never seen anyone speak to Prof. Dumbledore that way before. Mrs. Granger was a little scary and Harry was glad he hadn't done anything to make her mad at him.

"Thank you. I would like to meet this healer myself today before I leave." replied Mrs. Granger. Then she turned back to Prof. Dumbledore "Now about that magical guardian..."

"Yes, I believe I may have a couple of people that may be able to step in, that do not work in the school. Let me see if they can come here now." and then he wrote a small note and called a house elf to deliver it adding "please see if they can accompany you back here to Hogwarts."

Mrs. Granger then turned to Draco and started to speak but Mr. Granger cut her off saying "No, dear I think I'll take this one." giving Draco the evil eye. "You, Draco, will stay away from my daughter. I don't want you spending time with her, talking to her, HELL, I don't even want you looking at her. You will NOT hurt my daughter again, IS THAT CLEAR?"

Draco mumbled something and nodded.

"I asked IS THAT CLEAR?" yelled Mr. Granger

"Yes" said Draco loud enough for all to hear.

"Good. I expect in our weekly reports from our newly appointed magical guardian to be told if these two are not abiding by this new rule." said Mr. Granger to the Professors.

Suddenly, the house elf was back with three people, Tonks, Lupin and Sirius, who looked very confused. Sirius ran straight to Harry and asked him if he was OK.

"Yes, I'm fine, Sirius" said Harry.

"What's going on Albus?" asked Lupin

"Miss Grangers parents have asked that she be given a new magical guardian to look after her and to report back to them weekly. They would like someone that is not employed by the school as there have been some issues in the past couple of months." said Professor Dumbledore

"Some issues is a gross understatement" replied Mr. Granger

"I thought that maybe you or Sirius might be able to help us out and be Miss Granger's magical guardian." continued Prof. Dumbledore

"Um, excuse me Professor Dumbledore" said Hermione

"Yes?"

"I mean no disrespect to you Professor Lupin, or you Sirius, but all of this is quite personal and I'm not sure I would feel comfortable discussing certain things with you." Hermione paused for a minute and then continued "I would prefer it if Tonks could be my guardian...would you consider doing this Tonks?"

"Me? But you've known Remus and Sirius so much longer..." replied Tonks, clearly touched.

"Yes, but I would prefer it if my guardian was a woman, and I trust you Tonks" replied Hermione genuinely.

"Oh, of course then, I would be glad to help." said Tonks

"Perfect" said Mrs. Granger. "Now, I would like for you to meet with Hermione at least once a week and talk about how things are going with her and also meet with her healer to get updates. Then if you could meet with us and give us a summary of where things stand and Hermione's overall status, it would be great. Is that something that you think you can do? I mean, I'm sure you have a job but this is quite important to us."

"I don't foresee any problems. I'm an Auror so I'm at St. Mungo's all the time, I could get an update from her healer while I'm there and it's no trouble at all to stop in at Hogwarts and check up on Hermione. Hermione, we can sit down and figure out some times that work for the both of us for me to come see you" replied Tonks.

There was a knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey entered with a middle aged man following behind her. "This is Healer Dr. Brown, I believe he fits the criteria we were looking for." said Madam Pomfrey

Mrs. Granger stood up and walked over to Dr. Brown and shook his hand saying "it's nice to meet you Dr. Brown, I am Dr. Granger, Hermione's mother and this is my husband who is also a doctor." Mr. Granger then got up and shook Dr. Brown's hand.

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you as well. Now I only have a little bit of information but I understand you are looking for a healer that also has experience with psychiatry?"

"Yes, that's correct. Tell me a little bit about yourself and where you studied medicine."

"I am a muggle born and am originally from America. I had always wanted to be a doctor so after I finished wizarding school, I pursued first my Bachelor's degree and then my medical degree at an Ivy League. I then did an internship and residency in Psychiatry and once I finished I decided to also become a healer. I thought I could bring what I had learned to the wizarding world as it is surprisingly behind the times when it comes to mental health. My education to become both a doctor and a healer took me 16 years" answered Dr. Brown.

"But enough about me, I have come to meet Miss Hermione Granger" he said as he walked over to Hermione and offered his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Granger."

Hermione shook his hand and said "you, as well."

"Now there seems to be a lot of people in here that care about you, would everyone mind introducing themselves?" asked Dr. Brown

Everyone went around briefly introducing themselves: Hermione, Mr and Mrs Granger, Madam Pomfrey, Prof. Lupin, Tonks, Sirius, Harry, Prof. McGonnagell, Prof. Dumbledore, Narcissa, and finally Draco.

Dr. Brown walked over to Draco and offered his hand and then said "Mr. Malfoy, I think it would do you just as much good as Miss Granger to meet with me weekly as well. That is of course if you are interested."

Narcissa replied "Do you think he should?"

"Yes, even without having all the details, I believe that he will be going through many of the same things as Miss Granger." said Dr. Brown. "Obviously, I would see them separately and anything they say to me would remain in confidence and would not be shared with the other or anyone else unless I have their permission."

"Dr. Brown, we would like weekly updates on Hermione and we would like her magical guardian Miss Tonks to be able to get updates as well. How can this be done if what Hermione says remains confidential?" asked Mrs. Granger

"I will in fact give you and Miss Tonks weekly updates but it will be general information relating to her current state, such as she's having a really hard week, or I've noticed her mental state has declined, but not what she tells me. In doing things this way, I am able to give you a general idea of how she is doing without breaking her trust and revealing exactly what she's said. The same would apply to Mr. Malfoy if he chooses to meet with me as well." finished Dr. Brown

"Now I would like to speak with Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy in private for a few minutes before I meet with each family individually." said Dr. Brown

Mr. Granger jumped up and said "absolutely not, I don't want him anywhere near my daughter!"

"I understand Mr. Granger, but I need to speak to the both of them together in private to see where things stand between them so that I can formulate a treatment plan that will work. It will only take a couple of minutes" said Dr. Brown patiently.

Hermione got up and said "Dad it's OK, I'm fine." and walked over to Dr. Brown as did Draco. Prof. Dumbledore lead them to a small sitting room off of his office and closed the door.

As soon as the door closed, everyone started asking questions at the same time. Sirius, Lupin and Tonks were asking Harry what was going on. Mr and Mrs. Granger were talking to Narcissa about how this all happened. While, Madam Pomfrey, Prof. McGonnagell and Prof. Dumbledore were talking about how they were going to keep an eye on Hermione and Draco and also ensure they made their weekly appointments at St. Mungo's and meet with their guardians. It was a lot to do but Prof. McGonnagell was just happy she wasn't going to lose her favorite student.

 

Author's Note: For my fellow Harry and Hermione fans, I promise it's coming soon...

 

**Chapter 4**

Draco, Hermione and Dr. Brown sat in silence for a few minutes before Dr. Brown spoke. "I wanted to talk to you both in private briefly because while it's all well and good that your families want you away from each other, I need to know what you two think. If you are hell bent on staying together I need to know this so that I can work with you. So tell me what you're intentions are. Hermione, you first."

Hermione sighed, looked at Draco for a moment then began speaking "I told Draco that it was over, that while I loved him dearly, the relationship is too flawed to fix. My intentions are to recover and to do my best to move on."

"Draco, what are your intentions" asked Dr. Brown.

"I am reluctant to say this but I agree with Mia, there is too much working against us and we need to figure out a way to move on" replied Draco quietly.

"Ok then, I will do my best to help you both. Now let's bring your families in." said Dr. Brown as he got up and went into the other room to gather everyone up.

When he left Draco turned to Hermione, grabbed her hand and when she looked at him he whispered "I'm sorry." She nodded, then took her hand back to wipe the tears away just as everyone was coming in (Mr and Mrs. Granger, Tonks, Mrs. Malfoy, Professor McGonnagell, Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey).

Once everyone was settled Dr. Brown spoke "I wanted to speak with Draco and Hermione privately to determine what their intentions were because regardless of what all of you want, if they chose to still be together I needed to know this." He held up his hand as Mr. Granger was about to interrupt... "As it turns out, we are all on the same page and I will begin working with them individually to help them recover and move on."

He then turned to Draco and Hermione, "Now, I'm going to need each of you to pick a friend that I can consult with. This should be someone that you are closest with, someone that will keep an eye on you and look out for your best interests, and should you become extremely depressed will let me know. I need to know now as I would like for them to come here if that's possible."

Hermione replied first "Harry."

"OK, well, he's already here. Draco, what about you?"

Draco hesitated a moment and looked to Hermione asking her silently who to pick... "You should pick Pansy, Draco, she always looks out for you" replied Hermione

"Ok, Pansy it is" replied Draco.

"Thank you. Is it possible for someone to bring Pansy here?"

"I will send for her now" said Prof. Dumbledore as he wrote a note, called for a house elf and asked it to bring the note to Prof. Snape. "She should be here in a few minutes."

"Thank you." Dr. Brown then walked to the door and asked Harry to come in. He then explained that Hermione had indicated that Harry is the person she is closest with and would like for him to work with Dr. Brown while she recovers. Harry nodded and smiled at Hermione. After another few minutes Professor Snape arrived with Pansy and Dr. Brown explained the same to her in regards to Draco. When everyone was settled and on the same page he continued.

"Now, I'm not sure how the dormitories are set up here but both Harry and Pansy will need to be able to access Hermione and Draco's rooms. Will this be a problem?"

Professor McGonnagell spoke up "Boys are not allowed access to the girls dormitories, however, girls are allowed access to the boys dormitories so this will not be a problem for Miss Parkinson to get to Mr. Malfoy, but it will be an issue for Mr. Potter."

"Mr. Potter will need access, this is non-negotiable. It is imperative that this is allowed, can this be done?" asked Mr. Brown

Professor McGonnagell looked to Professor Dumbledore to answer. He thought it over for a few minutes finally nodding "yes, I can arrange for this."

"Ok, good. Now, here's the initial plan, as it may change after a couple of weeks depending on how things are going." He then grabbed a piece a paper and transfigured it into a whiteboard, then did the same with a quill, transfiguring it into a dry erase marker and started writing the plan down as he spoke.

"Both Draco and Hermione will start taking a muggle anti-depressant starting today. I will leave this with Madam Pomfrey for now and they will both need to go to her daily to take this."

"As the anti-depressant takes several weeks before it starts working, they will need to also take several potions starting today. They will take these potions for 2 months before we start slowly weaning them off them. Again, these will remain with Madam Pomfrey."

"They will need to meet with me weekly. Draco, we will start with once a week and evaluate from there. Hermione, we will start with twice a week and evaluate from there."

"I will meet with Harry and Pansy weekly to get a summary of how things are going. I will then meet with Miss Tonks and Mrs. Malfoy and give them an update on where things stand. I am relying on Miss Tonks to relay the information to you, Mr and Mrs Granger, but I am always available should you want to call me directly about anything."

"Finally, I expect Miss Tonks and Mrs. Malfoy to let the school know if there are things that need to be done to help ensure the success of my treatment plan for Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger. I expect that you will do all that is necessary?" When he only got one nod from Professor McGonnagell he decided to be more direct... "If you could please confirm this for me, I would greatly appreciate it."

Professor McGonnagell?" "Yes, of course" she replied.

"Professor Snape?" "Yes" he replied.

"Professor Dumbledore?" There was a long silence where everyone looked to the Professor wondering why he wasn't answering. Finally he replied "I will do what is necessary."

However, Dr. Brown wasn't pleased with that response so he then said "I just want to clarify that I am asking you to do what I deem necessary, in the best interests of my patients Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy, as their Doctor and Healer. Will you do what I deem necessary to help them?"

Again, there was a long pause before Prof. Dumbledore replied "Yes."

"Excellent. Now, here is the list of medications and potions that they will be taking and all the side effects and risks associated with them for your information." He handed the list to both Hermione and Draco as well as their parents and Miss Tonks as well as Madam Pomfrey. He then pulled two pill bottles out of his bag and pointed his wand at them. Their names as well as the medication information then appeared on the bottles. He handed one to Hermione and one to Draco. "I need you both to take this now," handing them a glass of water that appeared as if from nowhere. They both took the pill and handed the bottle back to him, which he then handed to Madam Pomfrey, explaining that they would refill magically daily so that only the correct dosage for one day remained in the bottle at any one time to avoid overdoses. He then pulled out several potions from his bag, pouring two doses from each bottle, so that both Draco and Hermione had three potions each to take. He pointed to them and they both automatically took the potions, grimacing and drinking the rest of their water. He then handed the potions to Madam Pomfrey after adding their names and the potion information to the bottles.

"I understand Hermione will be in the hospital wing for a few more days. I would like to be informed of her progress daily Madam Pomfrey, and I will come and visit you tomorrow Hermione, to set up our counseling schedule." When both Hermione and Madam Pomfrey nodded he turned to Draco. "I understand you will be going home for a week Draco, so I expect your mother to make sure you get your medicine and potions daily and I would like our first counseling session to be Monday."

"Of course, I will make sure he takes his medications and potions, and will have him back to school on Sunday so that he can attend his counseling session on Monday." replied Narcissa. She then turned to Draco who nodded his agreement.

"OK, then, I think that settles everything for now. Thank you all for your cooperation." said Dr. Brown. He then handed his business card to everyone in the room letting them know that he was always available. He said goodbye and then headed with Prof. Dumbledore to his office to use the floo to return to St. Mungo's.

Narcissa and Draco stayed and spoke with Madam Pomfrey getting all the medication she needed for the week for Draco, then they headed back to Draco's room to get his things with Pansy and Prof. Snape.

Harry helped Hermione up and started to bring her back to the hospital wing with her parents, Tonks, and Prof. McGonnagell. As they left the room, Harry realized that Sirius and Remus were still waiting for him. He looked to Hermione and she said "Harry, I'll head back, you should spend some time with them. Don't worry I'll be fine" she said smiling at him. Reluctantly he let Hermione head off without him. He then left Prof. Dumbledore's office with Sirius and Remus.

"So pup, is everything OK?" asked Sirius

Harry sighed and then said "I don't know Sirius, I honestly don't know. I'm so worried about Hermione. I can't even believe all the things that have happened. I think I'm still in shock that she was seeing Malfoy, never mind everything else. I don't know how she's dealing with this so well."

"Perhaps, she hasn't quite realized all that has happened yet. I'm sure she's still in shock herself. But she is very strong Harry and I'm sure with everyone's help and support she will be OK" said Remus.

"Yes, I imagine if you're in shock, she must also be Harry." said Sirius

"I just feel so helpless. There's no easy way to fix this. I mean even if I killed Malfoy, which I really want to, it wouldn't help Hermione. She'd still have to deal with all of this. I can't believe I let this happen to her." said Harry

"Harry, you didn't let anything happen to Hermione. This was never something that you could control. You didn't do anything. OK, Harry?" replied Sirius stopping and holding Harry's shoulders while he looked into his eyes.

"Yeah, I know. I just feel if I was a better friend, she wouldn't have been afraid of me finding out and then she would have come to me for help when he started hitting her and then maybe she would have never gotten pregnant and she wouldn't have been in so much pain." replied Harry

"I understand, Harry, I do, but you can't blame yourself for something that you had no control over. What's done is done. All you can do now is support Hermione and help her recover." replied Sirius.

"Not all relationships are great, even when there is love. We had a friend back in school that had a similar relationship and it killed us to see what it did to her. But in the end she was a stronger person for having gone through that relationship and ended up marrying a great guy who loved her dearly. I know it's hard, but you have to have faith that she will come out OK after all this and all you can do is help her the best you can" said Remus.

"I know and thanks, that makes me feel better" replied Harry. "I think I should head back to my dorm and take a shower, I've been in the hospital wing with Hermione since this happened and I feel gross. Do you want to stay a little while and we can go to the kitchens and get something to eat before I head back to stay with Hermione?"

"Yes, that sounds like a great idea. I haven't been in the dorms in forever" replied Sirius smiling and Remus agreed. They then headed to Gryffindor Tower with Harry.

(Author's Note: I tried NOT to make this story and specifically this next section too angsty so it covers a period of about 6 weeks.)

After Harry and Hermione said goodbye to their friends and families they established a routine for the remainder of Hermione's hospital stay. Basically, Harry only left for an hour once a day to shower and change and he spent the rest of the time in the hospital with Hermione. Dr. Brown established a schedule with Hermione to come and see him and Hermione was starting to feel better. Finally, after a full week in the hospital, Madam Pomfrey said that Hermione was well enough to leave.

The rest of the school had been told that there was an incident between Draco and Hermione, resulting in Hermione being in the hospital and Draco being suspended for a week. This was the easiest way to ensure the safety of both and was close enough to the truth that no one would have to lie. It also explained Draco's absence. The Gryffindors had been told that because Hermione was so shaken by the whole experience Harry would have access to the girls dormitories to check on Hermione. They were also told to try and respect Hermione's privacy and not pry and ask too many questions about what happened as it was a terrible ordeal for her to go through.

Professor McGonnagell arrived at the hospital wing to escort Hermione back to the dormitories with Harry bringing all of her things that had collected over the past week. When they arrived, everyone in the common room grew quiet. Prof. McGonnagell decided she should say something to break the ice, "Now, I expect all of you to help Miss Granger and Mr. Potter catch up on their school work as they have both missed a week of classes and assignments. In addition, please remember to respect Miss Granger's privacy and do not pry. She will let you know if she would like to talk about her ordeal. Goodnight everyone." She then turned to Hermione and told her not to hesitate if she needed to call on her for anything. Ginny then came over and started to bring Hermione and some of her things up to the dormitory.

Prof. McGonnagell then asked Harry to talk with her for a moment. He followed her outside of the portrait hole. "Harry, I know that now that you are back in the dormitories you may feel that you can't do what you've been doing this past week with Hermione in the hospital wing. But I want to make it clear, that you are allowed to do everything you have been doing. I know that you have slept by her side all week and if she needs that from you still then that is fine. I have informed Hermione's roommates that you will have access, and I have informed your roommates that they may see more of Hermione in your room. Just try and respect the others privacy by knocking before entering, etc and everything should work out. Obviously we will reevaluate this as time goes on, but for now we just want Miss Granger to heal and recover. Please let me know if you have any problems. Goodnight, Mr. Potter."

"Goodnight Professor McGonnagell" replied Harry and then he turned and went back into the common room. Ron immediately waved him over. He was sitting with Dean and Seamus.

"How's she's doing Harry?" asked Ron.

"She's OK. She's feeling better and has more strength, she was able to walk here on her own, although she's probably exhausted now." said Harry as he looked to the girls dormitories.

"Harry, what the hell did Malfoy do to her?" asked Seamus

"Yeah, he must have done something really horrible for her to be in the hospital for a week and for him to get suspended." Dean added.

"It's not really my place to say guys, but he did a number on her. And I swear I would like nothing more than to kill the bastard myself" replied Harry looking positively furious.

"Well, you just tell us when and where and we will gladly help you" said Seamus while Dean and Ron nodded their heads in agreement.

Harry laughed and then said "Thanks guys, but for now I just need to concentrate on Hermione. There will be plenty of time for payback after she's better." He then sighed and said "I'm going to go check on her now" and he turned to go head up the stairs to the girls dormitories. Everyone watched in awe as he was the only male they had ever seen do so without the stairs turning into a slide. Once he got up the stairs, he realized he had no idea where to go, so he called out Hermione's name until she came to a doorway and called him up a few more flights of stairs.

"Hey" said Harry as he walked into her room. Ginny was helping put away Hermione's things and Hermione just sat back down on her bed. "Are you tired?" he asked.

"Yes, the walk from the hospital wing wore me out. I think I'll take a nice long bath and then head to bed" replied Hermione.

"That sounds like a good plan Hermione. Listen I talked with Prof. McGonnagell and she wanted to make sure we knew that we were allowed to do the same as we have been doing all week in the hospital wing. So it's OK if I stay here with you or if you want to stay in my dorm with me. Do you want to do that or would you like to try sleeping on your own?" asked Harry.

"Really? Oh, Harry I was so worried about being alone tonight, would you mind staying with me?" asked Hermione

Harry walked over to Hermione and gave her a big hug and said, "of course I don't mind Hermione. I'll go shower and change and meet you back here in a little bit. Enjoy your bath." He then turned and left the room.

Ginny helped Hermione draw a bath and helped her in. She stayed and chatted with Hermione for a while, talking about all the latest gossip around school, much of which involved Hermione and Draco. Hermione was annoyed that the professors had told the students that Draco attacked her but didn't dwell on it. Ginny then left Hermione for a bit and went to put away the rest of her things.

Harry had showered and talked with Ron for a bit and then decided that as it had been an hour, it was probably safe to head back to Hermione's room. When he got there he saw only Ginny putting her things away. "Is she still in the bath?" asked Harry

"Yes, she should be almost done. I stayed in there with her for a while and only came out about fifteen minute ago to give her some space and have been putting her things away." replied Ginny

Harry came in and sat at Hermione's desk and asked, "Ginny, do you think she's going to be OK?"

Ginny who was sitting on the floor in front of Hermione's wardrobe sighed and turned to Harry and said "I don't know Harry. I still can't believe this all happened. I mean, I saw them together and I know that they were completely in love. Draco had his moments but I just can't imagine how hard this must be for her. I don't know that I would be able to deal with it all if it happened to me. I mean she didn't just lose a boyfriend, she lost a baby. How do you recover from that?"

"I don't know Ginny. I don't think it's hit her yet. I think she's just been trying to get through the physical pain and hasn't really thought about any of this. I'm worried about her and scared that one of these days it's all going to catch up to her" replied Harry.

"I guess we're just going to have to make sure we show her how much we care and be there to support her. Speaking of which, I'm going to go check on her now." said Ginny getting up and heading to the bathroom.

Harry could hear the girls muffled voices through the door but wasn't sure what they were saying. After about 10 minutes they finally emerged from the bathroom. Hermione smiled and said "sorry Harry, I guess I was really enjoying my bath. I didn't realize I had been in there for that long."

"There's nothing to apologize for, I'm glad you enjoyed your bath" replied Harry.

Hermione then walked over to her bed, performed a charm on it to double it's size, then pointed her wand at the door where a sign appeared that said "Harry is here."

Ginny told Hermione to let her know if she needed anything at all then said goodnight to both of them and closed the door behind her.

Harry and Hermione got into bed and Hermione pulled the curtains closed around the bed. She then performed some charms. Harry raised his eyebrow silently asking what she was doing and she told him that they were privacy charms and that they wouldn't be able to hear her roommates talking and that her roommates wouldn't be able to hear them talking. Harry laughed and said "I don't even want to know why you know those charms Hermione."

She then blushed and changed the subject saying "Thanks Harry for staying with me tonight. I'm sure one of these days I'll be able to sleep alone again but I really appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it Hermione. I dare say I'm getting rather used to sleeping in the same bed with you and I'm not looking forward to having to sleep alone again" said Harry blushing a little himself.

Hermione chucked and then snuggled up to Harry and whispered "goodnight, Harry."

"Goodnight, Hermione" and they were both asleep within minutes.

The next month found Hermione and Draco in a bit of a rut, dealing with their sudden separation and loss.

Hermione would go to class, where she would not takes notes or participate but simply doodle on her paper while sitting next to Harry and Ron. Then after classes she would nap until dinner, where she would only push around her food, and then head back to bed early every night. Harry was staying with Hermione in her room all the time until Ron spoke up and indicated he missed his best friends and could they at least spend some of their time in Harry's room. So besides that switch, the routine stayed the same. No matter how hard Harry and Ron tried, Hermione just wasn't herself. She wasn't even doing her homework, which they found particularly worrying, never mind that they now had to do their own homework. They would also do Hermione's, each doing half and then using Hermione's wand for the signature. She was doing everything she was supposed to do, going to her counseling sessions and to Madam Pomfrey's to take her medication, as well as classes, but she wasn't really there. She was just going through the motions.

Draco however was dealing with things quite differently. He had come back from his week at home and had been a disaster since then. He was incredibly angry all the time and blew up over the littlest things. He was skipping and walking out on classes all the time and was drinking every night. There wasn't a single class that he didn't receive detention from, but it didn't help because he wouldn't even bother to show up. Draco was only going to his counseling sessions sporadically and had on more than one occasion refused to take his medications. He was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with and was close to failing all his classes. Pansy was trying her hardest but Draco just wouldn't listen to reason.

Needless to say, everyone was getting quite worried about the two of them. Finally after six weeks of this Professor Snape had had enough.

After potions class one day, Professor Snape asked for Hermione, Harry and Pansy to stay behind so that he could speak with them. He told Pansy and Harry to take a seat while he talked with Hermione.

"Miss Granger, How are you?" asked Prof. Snape

"I'm fine." replied Hermione

"No, you're not." replied Prof. Snape

"Excuse me, I think I know how I am, and I am just fine." said Hermione slightly annoyed.

Professor Snape slammed his hand down on the potions bench and yelled "YOU ARE NOT FINE!" He then took some deep breaths and continued in a much more controlled voice "you need to move on Miss Granger."

"Oh please, that just brilliant coming from you." snapped Hermione

"Excuse me?" asked Prof. Snape

"Draco told me about you, that you were in love with a muggleborn back in school and that it didn't work out and his mom said that you haven't been able to forget about her, even after all this time. So DON'T TELL ME TO MOVE ON!" finished Hermione yelling at him.

Pansy and Harry just watched in silent awe the conversation that was going on between the two.

"That's different." replied Prof. Snape

"Why because it's you? How many years has it been since you were in love with her? You haven't moved on, so what gives you the right to tell me what to do?" replied Hermione nastily.

"BECAUSE SHE'S DEAD" yelled Prof. Snape. He seemed to be shocked that he said that as he looked around to see who heard him and then started shaking his head and sat down.

Hermione was shocked as well and now she felt terrible. She started to cry silently and then said "I'm so sorry Professor, I didn't know, I should have never said those things to you. I don't know what's the matter with me."

"It's alright, don't upset yourself over it. I didn't realize Draco knew." said Prof. Snape

"Yeah, he said his mom told him to stay away from Muggleborns not because of blood purity but because of what it had done to you" said Hermione softly, then she added "I bet he wishes he listened to her now."

"Nonsense Miss Granger, don't say such things. I don't expect what happened to me to happen to the two of you." said Prof. Snape.

"What happened, if I may ask?" said Hermione

Prof. Snape sighed and thought for a few minutes before starting "It was all so simple at first, we were best friends for years even before Hogwarts and we just grew into more. Our fifth year was so much like what you and Draco have experienced this year. I like Draco didn't realize certain contraception spells wouldn't work on a muggleborn and she became pregnant. However, the pregnancy was too much for her and she became quite ill. I was working on coming up with a potion for her but she miscarried before I perfected it. We managed to deal with that and stay together but one day we got into this terrible fight and I called her a mudblood and that was it. No matter how many times I tried to apologize to her she wouldn't have it. She was done with me. I was sick over it. I delved into the dark arts and became a death eater and she moved on and married another. One day I heard that the dark lord was targeting her and I couldn't let it happen. I begged him to spare her but he wouldn't, so I betrayed him and did everything I could to keep her safe. In the end it didn't matter, he still killed her."

"I'm so sorry Professor" said Hermione with tears streaming down her face. She looked over at Harry and he looked completely shocked as well as Pansy. They had never thought of their Professor as having a life at all never mind such a sad one.

"It's been a long time since I've talked about that, but I still believe you need to move on Miss Granger. Life is very short and we are in the middle of a war, I don't want you to spend too much time mourning what you have lost. You and Draco were in love, yes, but it was not meant to be, and you have to learn to love someone else. It will take time, yes, but you must try. I do not want to see the two of you end up like me." replied Prof. Snape.

At this Hermione launched herself at Prof. Snape and gave him a bone crushing hug. He was so shocked at first that he didn't know what to do but he finally relented and hugged her back. When she pulled away, he continued "Now, I know your friends miss you Miss Granger" seeing the confused look on Harry's face he clarified "your Slytherin friends, as you haven't been out with them in a couple of months, so I'm asking you to go out with them Saturday night like you used to. Miss Parkinson will make sure that this happens, and I will check in to make sure that you are in fact present Saturday night. In addition, I assumed you would want Mr. Potter to accompany you, so I am going to leave it to Miss Parkinson to ensure there are no problems."

"Professor, I do miss going out with them on Saturdays, but I don't know if Draco or I are ready to be around each other again." said Hermione

"I will be having the same conversation with Mr. Malfoy. I don't expect anything from either of you other than to go out and have fun. Merlin knows you both need it." replied Prof. Snape. He then stood up and said "now, off you go. You really need to work on your homework as it has been terrible lately." He said this and then looked at Harry silently telling him he knew that Harry was the one doing her homework.

"Yes, thank you Professor, for everything." replied Hermione quietly

As soon as they left the potions classroom Pansy squealed in delight, hugging Hermione and telling her how excited she was that Hermione was finally going to come out again with them on Saturday. She then excused herself saying she couldn't wait to tell everyone and ran off towards the Slytherin dorms.

Hermione turned to Harry and said "I'm sorry Harry for dragging you into this."

He then wrapped an arm around her shoulder and they started walking towards Gryffindor tower saying "don't worry about it Hermione, I mean how bad could a night out with a bunch of Slytherins that hate me really be?"

Hermione turned to see his face and realized he was joking when she saw he was smiling she then added "it's alright Harry, I'll protect you." She then thought for a few minutes and said "we will have to work on finding you something to wear though" and then she stopped walking...

"What's the matter?" asked Harry

"It's nothing, just that all my clothes, the ones that I would wear to the club, are still in Draco's room. I never went to get any of them" she said frowning.

"I'm sure we can find something in your closet that you can wear and if not I'll go and get the clothes from Malfoy for you, OK?" said Harry

Hermione smiled and started walking again "Thanks Harry, you're the best."

"I know" replied Harry smirking.

They then talked about how odd it was to hear about Professor Snape's life and how sad it was. Hermione wondered who the woman he loved was. There couldn't have been that many muggleborns in that year, and she vowed to look it up in the library, thinking at the same time how long it had been since she had been there.

Harry couldn't help but smile when Hermione mentioned the library, maybe she was finally coming back to him.

 

**Chapter 5**

Author's Note: We're getting closer to Harry/Hermione!

The rest of the week found Hermione in much better spirits. She was looking forward to going out and having some fun and she was thrilled that Harry was going to be there with her. She was a little nervous about being around Draco again but she figured it had to happen sooner or later and she was going to enjoy herself regardless.

Hermione had asked Pansy to come help with Harry's wardrobe and to see if they could disguise him somewhat. So when Saturday afternoon came, the Gryffindors were quite surprised to find Pansy Parkinson asking to be let into the common room. They were even more surprised when Harry told them to get out of the way so she could come in. Now, Pansy certainly wasn't Harry's type but he could appreciate how good she looked. She had a simple short black fitted dress on and she had her hair down and somewhat curly. She also had on very high heels. Harry admired her for a minute before she said "Like what you see Potter?"

Harry blushed and said "Sorry, yes, you look very nice."

Pansy laughed and said "OK, let's see what we can do with you." She looked around and said "where's Mia?"

"She went upstairs about a half hour ago to start getting ready." replied Harry

"Well, let's head up then, shall we?" asked Pansy making her way over to the stairs. She suddenly stopped and said "Oh, I almost forgot, is Weasley around?"

"Which one?" asked Harry

"Ron" replied Pansy

"Yes, he's up in our room, why?" asked Harry

"Well, I had planned on Draco being my date tonight but Cho had a friend that was really interested in him so he's going with her instead. I think her name is Rebecca, she's that tall, auburn haired Ravenclaw, I think she's a year above us. Anyway, I just thought maybe Ron might want to come with us tonight" rushed Pansy and then she sighed and said "but let's talk to Mia first."

"So Draco has a date for tonight? Do you think Hermione is going to be OK with that?" asked Harry.

"I don't know, let's find out. If she's not then we'll figure something else out to do." replied Pansy.

Harry smiled and followed Pansy up the stairs to Hermione's room, thinking he was pleasantly surprised that Pansy seemed like a true friend to Hermione.

When they arrived at Hermione's room the door was closed and there was really loud music playing inside. They knocked but clearly Hermione couldn't hear them so Pansy opened the door and went in. Harry was a little nervous about walking in and finding Hermione undressed so he waited a few seconds before following Pansy in. Upon entering the room, it looked like her closet had exploded. There were clothes everywhere, in fact he realized that in addition to shirts and skirts, he was also surrounded by many different colored bra's and underwear. Harry started to blush causing Pansy to chuckle slightly, and call out "Mia, where are you?"

"Pansy, oh thank Merlin you're here, I can't find anything to wear..." Hermione was saying walking out of the bathroom. She stopped when she saw Harry, realizing that she was only in her bra and underwear. "Oh Harry, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were here too. Let me just throw a shirt on for now." She dug threw a pile and pulled out a top to throw on.

Harry was speechless, his best friend just came out of the bathroom in the sexiest bra and underwear he had ever seen and Merlin did she look good. It was a matching pair made of black lace and he had to say he was surprised, pleasantly surprised, very pleasantly surprised. Just as he was shaking his head to clear the not so platonic thoughts from his mind he realized what shirt she had put on...it was a Quidditch jersey and it was green and all he could see was the name Malfoy emblazoned on the back of it. All of sudden Harry was quite angry and he wanted to rip the shirt off of her. What the hell was she doing wearing that. It wasn't rational he knew but he was pissed. He cleared his throat and said "Hermione, why are you wearing that?"

Surprised that she could hear anger in his voice, Hermione looked over at Harry questioningly. Why did he sound so angry? "Harry? I..I..just grabbed it and threw it on."

"Yes, but why do you still have it to put on?" asked Harry getting even angrier

"It's comfortable and I guess I just haven't gotten around to giving Draco his things back...but I should, you're right. Here I'll change, OK?" and then she turned around and grabbed a different shirt and put that on instead.

Harry felt himself immediately cool down as soon as that blasted shirt was off Hermione. What the hell was wrong with him? He saw Pansy smirking out of the corner of his eye and looked away.

"Well it's a good thing I came over early, I have my work cut out for me" said Pansy before continuing "we need to fix up Potter here, so that he is presentable and then find you an outfit. Ok, let's find Mia an outfit first." Pansy then started looking through all the clothes strewn about the room, then went over to the wardrobe and then finally to the trunk. "Hmmm"

"I know, all of the clothes I usually wear are in Draco's room and so are all my shoes. Damn it." said Hermione

"OK, I'm going to go get your stuff and I'll be right back." said Pansy, then she turned to Harry and said "Potter can you come and give me a hand bringing the stuff back?"

"Sure." replied Harry

"Thanks so much guys! I'll just clean up here while you're gone" said Hermione and then she added "Pansy do you want me to open up the shortcut for you?"

"Yes, that would be much quicker, thanks." said Pansy

Hermione then walked out of her room and to the blank wall at the top of the dorm stairs, where she whispered quietly and pointed her wand at the wall. The wall then opened up to reveal another set of stairs going down. Pansy said "thanks" and walked through turning when she realized Harry hadn't followed her.

Hermione looked guiltily at Harry and said "it's a passageway to the Slytherin boys dorms, I'm sure you must have one on your side that leads to the girls dorms as well."

Harry nodded and followed Pansy down the stairs until she stopped in front of one door and knocked. A few seconds later Malfoy opened the door, looking completely surprised to see Harry standing in front of him with Pansy. Pansy walked into his room and Harry stood in the doorway. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" asked Draco

"Mia has nothing to wear tonight because it's all still here. So I offered to come and get it for her." replied Pansy

Draco nodded and walked over to one of his wardrobe's and placed his hand on it saying something quietly until a click was heard. He then opened the doors and moved out of the way for Pansy.

Harry was surprised to find that Malfoy had his own room, he didn't have to share with anyone. He also had very nice furniture and he had two wardrobes which Harry found odd. "Do you all have your own rooms?" he asked

"Yes. Why, don't Gryffindors?" replied Malfoy

"No, we share by year." replied Harry

"You have to share a room between all of you?" asked Malfoy horrified.

Harry nodded and despite himself, he found that he had to laugh. Malfoy made it seem like there was nothing worse than having to share a bedroom.

"That's just wrong." replied Malfoy

Pansy then walked over and gave Harry with a handful of clothes on hangers to hold. She then went back over to the wardrobe and started collecting folded clothes. Harry then noticed that the wardrobe was filled with only girls clothes. He also saw a few pictures of Hermione on the inside of the doors and walked over to see them. They were muggle pictures taken of her, obviously over the summer, as she was wearing summer clothes. She looked absolutely breathtaking. There was also one of her and Malfoy on the beach, they were both in bathing suits and Malfoy was hugging her from behind, with their faces close together and they were smiling. Harry had to admit that they looked very happy in the picture. Just then Pansy asked "Ok, where are her shoes?"

Draco pulled a trunk out from under his bed and enlarged it, Pansy then opened it and saw that it was all Hermione's shoes. "Do you mind if I just take the whole trunk and I'll bring it back to you later?"

"Sure, whatever. You don't have to bring it back, I got it for her anyway, she should keep it." said Draco.

"Ok, thanks" said Pansy and then she shrunk it down again and placed it on top of the folded pile of clothes she was going to carry. She nodded to Harry and they started to walk out. She then stopped and told Harry to wait a minute for her, she went back into Draco's room and closed the door.

"Are you OK?" asked Pansy

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'll be fine." said Draco

"Well, we just have another hour or so before we leave, why don't you go see if Blaise is ready yet. You know he takes forever and always makes us wait for him." replied Pansy.

"Sure." said Draco and they both walked out of the room. Draco nodded to Harry and went down the stairs while Pansy and Harry walked up the stairs back to the passageway.

When they got back to Hermione's room she was just finishing up putting her clothes away. She turned to see them coming in and ran over to help put her things away. Seeing that Mia was happy now that she had her clothes Pansy said "so I was thinking of asking Weasley, I mean, Ron if he would come with us tonight as my date, what do you think?"

"Ron? But isn't Draco coming?" asked Hermione

"Yes, he is but Cho is bringing a friend with her and ..." Pansy paused not sure what else to say.

Hermione understood and just said "Oh, yeah, I think Ron would have a good time."

"Mia..."

"No, it's fine, Pansy, really it is. We have to move on. Besides it's not like I don't have my own date tonight" she said as she winked at Harry.

He beamed at this gesture and couldn't quite figure out why this made him so happy.

"Ok, then. Potter, let's head over and find Weasley and then I'll make you both presentable." said Pansy

Hermione smiled at Harry and then said "Have fun" chuckling to herself as they left her room. Harry was slightly worried about why she was chuckling. What did he get himself into?

When Harry and Pansy walked down into the common room the whole place went quiet. Everyone stared as Harry made his way up the stairs to the boys dorms with Pansy following behind. He knew he was never going to hear the end of this. They walked into his room to find Ron lounging on his bed reading a Quidditch magazine. He looked up and saw Harry with Pansy and was about to say something when he noticed how good Pansy looked. He just sat there with his mouth open staring at them. Harry chuckled and said "Hi Ron"

Pansy didn't give him a chance to respond and said "Look, Weasley, I've found myself unexpectedly without a date for tonight and I'd like for you to come with me." Not getting any response except for his mouth opening wider, Pansy proceeded "Ok, I'm going to take that as a yes, Weasley. Now, I need to make you both presentable and we need to figure out a way to make you blend in Potter." Turning to Harry she continued "Where are your clothes?"

Harry walked over to his wardrobe, opened the doors, and stepped out of the way. There was a lot of mumbling under her breath that Harry couldn't understand, she didn't seem to be happy with his selection. She turned to him and said "is this all your clothes?" Harry nodded yes. She sighed and spent a few more minutes looking through everything finally settling on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She asked him to change and then turned to Ron "Where are your clothes, Weasley?"

Ron then walked over to his wardrobe and quickly got out of her way. She did the same thing with Ron's clothes as she did with Harry's again settling on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt asking him to change and then she turned back to Harry.

"Let's see, not bad, we just need to do a few charms and you will be good to go." said Pansy. She then turned his jeans a very dark blue and made them much tighter on him than he would prefer. When he started to protest she simply held up her hand stopping him. She then made his t-shirt fitted and changed the color to a dark green to match his eyes. She then found a pair of shoes for him to wear and charmed them so that they were a little dressier than originally. She then walked around him several times, basically checking him out and nodded in approval. She asked him to sit on the bed and walked over to him and started running her hands through his hair trying to see the best way to style it. Harry couldn't help but close his eyes at how nice it felt, then he realized this was Pansy that was doing this and his eyes shot open. She laughed at his reaction. "I think that we will leave your hair alone and just try and disillusion the scar and maybe grow a little hair on your face." Then she went to work, she performed a multitude of spells on Harry's scar before she was happy with it. She performed a hair growing charm on Harry's face and he grew a beard but she then did a couple more charms and he ended up with stubble that would have taken him about 5 days to grow. "Well, I must say Potter, you look quite sexy with facial hair." said Pansy and then she turned to Ron. "Ok, now it's your turn."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at the deer in the headlights look upon Ron's face. Harry got up and looked in the mirror to see what Pansy had done to him. He was shocked. He definitely still looked like himself but he looked much older and almost dangerous. He was quite happy with the look and hoped Hermione liked it as well. What? What made him think that? Shaking his head, he walked over and watched Pansy work on Ron. About 15 minutes later, Ron was looking in the mirror admiring himself. He now had on khaki pants and a tight fitted black t-shirt with matching black shoes. It was understated and simple and it showed off his muscular arms well. Pansy had done something to his hair so that it looked messier but in a good way.

"You both clean up well" said Pansy "now, let's go find Mia and head out." They then walked back down to the common room again silencing everyone because Pansy was with them. Just then someone knocked on the portrait hole so Harry walked over and opened it up. "Luna"

"Hi Harry, How are you?" asked Luna giving him a big hug and walking past him into the common room. She was followed by a group of people Harry realized as they were all saying Hi. He turned and saw that Luna, Cho, Draco, Blaise, and another girl he didn't know were now in the common room talking to Pansy and Ron. He shut the door and walked over to them.

"Hi Harry, this is my friend Rebecca" Cho said turning to introduce the auburn haired beauty.

"Hi, nice to meet you" replied Harry

Just as Rebecca was about to reply Pansy yelled up the stairs to the girls dorm "Mia, come on we're just waiting for you."

They then heard Hermione yell back "I'll be right down."

Harry then noticed that the girls were all dressed quite nicely. Luna had on a blue dress, if you could call it a dress, it was the tiniest dress he had ever seen and it showed off long legs and a fair bit of cleavage. He found himself trying to figure out if it was her underwear he was seeing peeking out from the bottom or a pair of short shorts. Cho had on a sparkly gold dress that was also quite short and Rebecca had on a pair of black fitted pants with a revealing silver tank top. They were quite a sight and Harry smiled to himself, thinking that surely no one was going to be noticing Harry Potter with these ladies around.

Just then he heard heels on the stairs and looked up to see Hermione coming down. Merlin did she look phenomenal. "Breathe, Harry, Breathe" he thought to himself. She was wearing a black sequin tank top and a denim mini skirt with a pair of black heels that showed just her big toe...what did they call them, peep toe shoes? He shook his head, who cares what they're called, look at her! She was more covered than the rest of the girls but Harry found that he liked that. It left something to the imagination. She showed just a little bit of cleavage on the top and just enough of her legs to realize how long and luscious they looked. She smiled at him as she walked over. Her hair looked great, it was all down and looked almost wild but not bushy, just sexy. Sexy...did he just refer to his best friend as sexy? Her lips were shiny so she must have had some lip gloss on... "I wonder what it tastes like" thought Harry. He groaned...what was wrong with him tonight? Everyone was hugging Hermione and saying Hi and then he realized they were all leaving the common room headed out of the portrait hole. Hermione turned to him and said "come on Harry" and reached for his hand. He was there holding her hand in a flash with what was surely the biggest grin on his face but he didn't care, he was going to have a great time tonight.

After walking down to the dungeons and into the Slytherin common room, they headed down a long hallway that eventually led them outside of the gates of Hogwarts. Draco then pulled out what looked like invitations, one with his name on it and the other with Hermione's name on it. He handed hers over and Harry watched as everyone else got their invitations out. Looking to Hermione, Harry silently questioned what was going on.

"They're portkey's. They activate at nine o'clock and bring us to the club." said Hermione.

"Where is this club, anyway?" asked Harry

Hermione mumbled so Harry couldn't understand her

"I'm sorry?" asked Harry

"Knockturn Alley." she replied

"What? Seriously?" replied Harry

"Yes. It brings us right in front of the club and there's tons of people around so it's safe enough." she said

"OK, if you say so" replied Harry with a smirk then asked "How are we going to get back?"

Hermione sighed and then said "Professor Snape comes to get us at one."

"You're joking?" asked Harry

Hermione simply shook her head no

Pansy then spoke up and said "Look, we probably shouldn't be calling Potter, Potter tonight. I mean he should blend in fine but if we're all yelling Potter, people will obviously start to notice."

Harry looked around and Draco and Blaise seemed to be frowning at that.

Luna spoke up and said "most of us don't call him that, so maybe the rest of you could just call him Harry, it is his name after all."

Hermione laughed and said "yes, Luna, you're quite right. So, Harry it is for everyone tonight, OK?" She looked at Blaise and Draco waiting for them to agree. After a minute of fierce scowling they finally nodded.

"Great. I think it's almost nine everyone." said Hermione and she held the invitation out to Harry for him to hold as well. She also grabbed his other hand and held it. Harry smiled at this gesture and then he was feeling the familiar tug of the portkey.

Harry landed hard on the ground and looked around. Hermione was right, there were people everywhere. They all seemed to be in their late teens and early twenties, although there were some older people there as well. There was a line going down the alley way of people waiting to get in to the club. There were a couple of people that Harry could only describe as muggle bouncers at the door and they greeted them saying "Mr. Malfoy" while removing the red rope that was blocking the entry way. They all started to make their way over and then Harry was being held back by Blaise. Harry looked at him with his eyebrows raised. At this point Hermione was closer to the bouncers and they exclaimed "Mia" and gave her a big hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. Harry was quite annoyed by this and Blaise laughed.

"Look, Pot... Harry, if you're going to be here with us tonight, there are some things you should know." said Blaise

Harry just simply stared at him waiting for him to continue

"Mia attracts quite a bit of attention here. Up until now Draco has been able to keep some of the more questionable guys away from her but everyone knows that they aren't together anymore and she hasn't been out in a few months. So be prepared, keep your eyes open, and try not to lose sight of her. Not everyone is what they seem, and many of these guys are only interested in one thing, and a fair number of them don't care how they get it. Understand?" said Blaise

Harry nodded

Blaise continued "The rest of us are used to looking out for her but since you and Weasley are here, you should know what's going on as well. Oh, and we try not to let Mia know what we're doing, so she can enjoy herself without worrying."

Harry was speechless, almost. "Why?"

"Why do we protect her? Because she's our friend, same as you. Why is she so popular? She's beautiful and smart and that makes her very appealing but unfortunately because of her blood status it makes her even more appealing to the not so decent blokes, who would like nothing more than to show her her proper place." replied Blaise

Harry clenched his jaw in anger. He'd be damned if anyone would get near Hermione tonight. He looked around to see where she was and found her quickly, smiling back at him.

They were in the club now and it was loud, dark and smoky. They were making their way through the crowd and it seemed everyone was hugging Hermione. How the hell was he supposed to keep her safe if she insisted on letting all these people touch her. Finally, they made their way to a corner that had some couches and chairs with a table in the middle with a sign on it saying "Reserved for Mr. Malfoy." While everyone was settling in, a waitress came over, in a pair of short black shorts and a black tank top, which Harry thought looked quite nice. She started taking drink orders and Harry realized he didn't know what to order.

Hermione realized this and said "Harry, they have both muggle and wizarding drinks here. We always do shots of fire whiskey first though. I usually order muggle drinks, like cosmipolitan's, vodka and juice, and the like. I think you should probably just stick with beer...do you know if you like it?"

"I have no idea, but Hermione we're underage..." replied Harry

"Harry, we're in Knockturn alley, the rules don't exactly get followed here. I'll order you a beer and you can try it and see. You can try my drink as well." replied Hermione and then she ordered for them.

Harry looked around to see that Pansy had done the same for Ron. He looked very uncomfortable and Harry smiled at him hoping to make him feel a little better. This was certainly a new experience for them. Hermione then started to tell him that this club was started by an American Wizard who was muggleborn and continued to tell him how much she liked how he combined both wizard and muggle things in the club, pointing out the DJ and the stage where they did Karaoke sometimes, and had bands perform. She seemed to be having a good time and Harry couldn't help but feel it was contagious. He was enjoying just being around her tonight, she hadn't been this happy in a long time. The waitress came back with shots and drinks for everyone. Harry watched as they all raised their shot glasses. Hermione nudged him and he did the same as did Ron. They all clanked their glasses and drank the fire whiskey. The music changed and the girls all squealed in delight, apparently they liked this song. They all got up to dance and Hemione asked "Do you mind if I leave you to go dance?"

"Of course not, go, have fun" replied Harry

Ron made his way over to Harry and they watched the girls in silence for a few minutes. Harry then said "Oh, yeah, Ron, Blaise told me that we should keep an eye on Hermione tonight. He said that a lot of blokes are interested in her and it didn't sound like they wanted to ask her out on a date."

"Really? Our Hermione? Huh. Who knew." said Ron then he continued "Wait, what do you mean they don't want to ask her out on a date? What do they want to do then?"

Harry clenched his jaw again remembering the conversation he had with Blaise, then replied "Just that they want to show her her proper place, since she is a muggleborn."

Ron growled his response, "over my dead body, they will."

Harry nodded his agreement and they both turned back to watch the girls.

"So, Pansy, huh?" asked Harry smirking

"So, Hermione, huh?" replied Ron right back

They both chuckled and Ron said "Hermione is quite a sight tonight, isn't she? I never realized she was so beautiful."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I feel like these past few weeks since everything happened with Malfoy, it's like I've gotten to see a completely different side of her. I never knew she could be such a girl." said Harry smiling

"Yeah, it's hard not to notice she's a girl tonight." Ron replied smirking then continued "and Pansy seems alright as well. I mean we've actually had a few conversations tonight already and she's certainly not hard to look at either."

"I know. I spent some time with her earlier today and I was surprised at how normal she seemed. She was even worried about Hermione when she found out Malfoy was going to bring a date, then she went to go get Hermione's clothes from his room and brought them back to her. That reminds me, did you know that our girls dorm connects to the Slytherin boys dorm?" asked Harry

"What? No. How?" asked Ron

"I was in Hermione's room with Pansy and we went to go get her clothes back but Hermione said that she would open the short cut and she said a spell and a passageway opened up to the Slytherin boys dorm. Hermione reckons that our side would open up to the Slytherin girls dorm." replied Harry

"Really? I guess there's a reason to date a Slytherin." said Ron and they both chuckled again.

Just then Harry saw a pretty red head talking to the girls. She had a large blokes arms wrapped around her waist and she looked familiar, but Harry couldn't place her. Just then Hermione said something to her and she looked right at Harry and Ron. She then whispered in the guys ear and he let go of her. She then started walking over to Harry and Ron. Harry elbowed Ron and asked "who is that, she looks familiar?"

"I don't know...wait... is that MY SISTER?" asked Ron

"No, it couldn't be" replied Harry but sure enough in a couple of seconds, the pretty red head was hugging and kissing them both on the cheek and saying Hello.

They were both speechless. Ginny was wearing incredibly short gold shorts with very high heels and a black tank top. Her hair was curled and down, looking wild and she had make up on. Harry was quite surprised but he looked at Ron to see that he was getting angry taking in Ginny's appearance. Oh no, this wasn't good.

"Ginny? What are you doing here?" asked Ron

She raised an eyebrow at him and responded "Me? I've been coming here every weekend since fourth year. Honestly, Ron, do you think I stay in and study every weekend?"

Then the big bloke came over and put his arms around Ginny's waist again and she leaned back against him saying "Theo, this is my brother Ron." Theo shook hands with Ron and then Ginny introduced Harry and they also shook hands. Harry could tell Ron was barely holding it together, and apparently Ginny could as well because she said they were going to go dance and off they went.

"What the hell was she wearing, Harry!" yelled Ron

"Shorts and a tank top" replied Harry smirking

Ron replied with a punch to Harry's shoulder and Harry just laughed and patted Ron on the back. "Bloody hell, Harry, she's too young, she shouldn't look like that, she shouldn't have a boyfriend, and she certainly should have one that's bigger than me." said Ron.

Harry chuckled some more and said "I'm glad I don't have a sister."

"You have Hermione, don't you think of her as a sister?" asked Ron

Harry grimaced and replied "I most definitely do NOT think of Hermione as a sister, Ron."

Ron laughed at that response and said "No, I suppose you don't, at least not anymore. and I don't think she thinks of you as a brother either, if the way she's been looking at you tonight is anything to go by."

"Really? I didn't notice she was looking at me differently." replied Harry

Ron just smiled. Then they heard a commotion behind them and saw that Draco had Cedric Diggory pinned up against the wall. Curious as to what was going on they walked over to so that they could hear what they were saying.

Cedric was laughing at Draco and he said "What's the matter Malfoy, did I hit a sore spot? Gryffindor girls are notoriously difficult to please in the bedroom, is that what happened? Did Granger finally give up on you? Is she ready for a real man now? I'd be happy to oblige, now that's she available."

"You will stay the fuck away from her Diggory" replied Draco fiercely.

"Or what, Malfoy? You have no say anymore, as you apparently couldn't keep her satisfied." replied Cedric smirking.

Draco's response was to punch Cedric in the stomach

Cedric coughed and then laughed at Draco, finally saying "Well there's the princess now, I think I'll go ask her if she fancies having dinner with me. Nice chat, as always, Malfoy. See you around" and then Cedric pushed past Draco and walked away.

Blaise walked over to Draco and handed him a drink and said "relax Draco, you know she won't give him the time of day. She's heard the stories Cho's told us, and you would know better than anyone if she was into that kind of thing. She can handle that prat."

Draco nodded and took his drink from Blaise then they both turned around to see Ron and Harry. They stepped back in surprise at the looks Harry and Ron were wearing.

"So, you heard?" asked Draco

They both nodded in response

"Diggory's a bastard and has had his eye on Mia for a while now. Piece of shit, I'd like nothing more than to use an unforgivable on him. But Blaise is right, Mia can handle him." said Draco

They all turned and watched Cedric make his way towards Hermione and Harry had to fight the urge to go throttle him as he bent down and whispered in her ear. She nodded and they walked off towards a corner of the room together. The only thing keeping Harry from going after them was that he could still see them where they moved to. Cedric was talking to Hermione, who seemed to be laughing far too much for Harry's liking and then Cedric was whispering in her ear again and he was getting closer to her. Then Cedric had his arms on either side of her head and he looked like he was leaning in to kiss her when out of nowhere a man appeared next to them and punched Cedric right in the face, knocking him to the ground.

Harry looked to see Draco laughing and heard him say "I wondered how long it would take for him to show up."

"Who?" asked Harry

Draco seemed to think for a second before answering Harry and then finally said "for lack of a better term I'll just call him boyfriend number 2"

At Harry's questioning look he continued "Look, you can't think that I'm the only guy Mia has been involved with? Let's just say that boyfriend number 2 is a tad bit possessive of her." Draco said laughing

"Who is it, Krum?" asked Ron

"No, that's boyfriend number 1. As for who number 2 is, I promised Mia I wouldn't say. She wanted to be the one to tell you guys when the time came. I personally can't stand the guy, but he does look out for her, I'll give him that." said Draco

They turned back to see Hermione standing between the two wizards with her arms spread out keeping them apart. She said something and they both nodded and they all walked towards the back. Harry and Ron went to follow but Draco grabbed Harry's arm and said "I'm not so sure you want to know." Harry frowned, pulled his arm away and went in the direction Hermione headed.

They walked to the back and down a small hallway and then they heard the raised voices and they slowly made their way in.

"Sirius?" asked Harry dumbfounded

Hermione was standing between Sirius and Cedric while they glared at each other.

"Harry, I didn't realize you were here tonight" replied Sirius turning away from Cedric.

"What's going on?" asked Harry

"Sirius, here was just going to apologize to Cedric for hitting him, weren't you Sirius?" replied Hermione heatedly giving Sirius a glare and poking him in the chest with her finger.

"No, I wasn't. He deserved it. It was completely out of line for him to try and kiss you" then he raised his voice and looked directly at Cedric and continued "Don't you have any manners? Were you not taught the proper way to make your intentions known to a witch? You have to get permission first and you most certainly did not ask for it, nor would you have received it." finished Sirius crossing his arms.

"What are you on about? That only happens with witches from pureblood families. Hermione is muggleborn." replied Cedric exasperated.

"Oh, so what you're saying is that Hermione isn't as important as a pureblood?" snapped back Sirius

"What? I...No, that's not what I meant. Of course she is as important but she doesn't have a wizarding father for me to ask permission from Black." replied Cedric

"Well she has someone else. Someone better, she has me." smirked Sirius

"Are you serious?" asked Cedric

"I am, honestly Diggory, I would think you could remember my name." chucked Sirius and then he continued fiercely "But I wasn't kidding about asking for permission."

Cedric sighed and then said "I'm sorry, I didn't realize she was protected, but I should have known, she is Potter's best friend after all. Let's start over, OK?" When Sirius nodded he continued "Lord Black, I would like your permission to escort Miss Granger on a date. What say you?"

Sirius thought about it for a very long silent minute while everyone looked at him and then he replied simply "No."

"NO?" asked Cedric but before he could continue Hermione stepped in.

"Sirius, honestly, this is ridiculous." Then she turned to Cedric and said "I'm sorry Cedric, he's being a complete git right now. I will think about it and owl you my response on Monday, OK?"

Cedric smiled and nodded while Hermione walked him back towards the doorway, he sent a final glare back at Sirius and then he went back into the main area of the club.

"ARE YOU MENTAL?" Hermione yelled rounding back and advancing on Sirius

"What? Are you mad? He's a slimy git and he was trying to take advantage of you." replied Sirius innocently

Hermione raised her hands above her head in frustration saying "Oh yes, clearly. I must have been mistaken," then she continued getting louder with each word " and here I thought that he was an INTELLIGENT, SUCCESSFUL, HANDSOME WIZARD that was asking me on a date and just trying to kiss me. MERLIN, it's a good thing you were there. Whatever would I do without you?" snapped Hermione poking Sirius in the chest again.

At this point Harry couldn't stay quiet anymore, he had absolutely no idea what was going on and was getting annoyed "What the hell is going on?" demanded Harry

Both Hermione and Sirius jumped, apparently forgetting that they were not alone. Hermione blushed a little and then answered him "It's slightly complicated Harry, but basically I am protected under House Black and that means that wizards must ask for permission to date me."

"Why didn't I know this?" asked Harry

"How? I didn't know you could do that." asked Ron

Sirius and Hermione shared a glance and appeared to be silently communicating with each other. After a minute Hermione responded carefully "Again, it's complicated but we can explain it all to you if you want another time? It's a long story, and this isn't exactly the best place to have this conversation."

"Ok, then tomorrow you can explain it all to me." replied Harry

"Sure" said Sirius running his hands through his hair

Hermione just nodded and looked at Ron, hoping he didn't have a clue as to how Hermione was initiated into House Black. He still seemed confused so she felt a little better and said "Now, Harry, I don't believe I've gotten a chance to dance with you all night, and you are my date, are you not?"

"Yes, I am" replied Harry smiling and he grabbed Hermione's hand and started walking back into the club area.

It was dark and they made their way through the crowd, finally finding a spot to dance. It was muggle dance music and Harry was a little nervous looking around at how everyone was dancing. Before he had time to think about it, Hermione had turned around and backed up against him, then she grabbed his hands and put them around her waist and brought him even closer. She raised her hands and put them up around the back of Harry's neck bringing his face up next to hers so he was breathing down her neck. As if this wasn't enough to send his teenage hormones into overdrive, then she started swaying to the music and rubbing against him. Every few minutes she would turn around and face him and lower herself dancing very seductively. Harry felt like he was in heaven and hell at the same time. He wasn't sure how much of this he could take but he was also loving every minute of it. They continued to dance like this for hours, enjoying each other's company in a completely new way.

Harry couldn't believe how fast time went by. Before he knew it Professor Snape had come to collect them and activated their portkeys to bring them back to Hogwarts. As they made their way back everyone seemed to be talking about how much fun they had and he could only agree. He wasn't sure how he was going to fall asleep tonight, he was wide awake. Just as he finished thinking that Blaise turned around and said "Mia, don't even think about skipping out on the after party fun in the common room."

Hermione looked surprised and then turned to Draco and said "Are you sure you don't mind? I don't want us to overstay our welcome..."

"Don't be ridiculous, Mia, stay." replied Draco

"Ok, if you're sure" said Hermione then she turned to Harry and Ron and explained that they usually stay up and drink and play games when they get back from the club. Ron who was having a great time with Pansy seemed only too happy to be able to stay around her longer and nodded. Hermione then said to Harry "we don't have to stay if you don't want to Harry".

"No, I think we should stay. I couldn't fall asleep right now if I tried." replied Harry

Hermione beamed at him and grabbed his hand, holding it the rest of the way to the Slytherin common room. When they arrived, Harry was surprised that food and drinks were waiting for them. They all seemed quite famished from their night of dancing. Harry grabbed some food and went to sit at the table and noticed that there weren't enough chairs for everyone so he waiting for Hermione, intending to offer her the chair. However, when she came over she told him to sit and then just sat on his lap. He was quite taken aback by this, as Hermione had never sat on his lap before, but he had to admit he liked it. Looking around he saw that everyone else had done the same, he then realized it was a very Slytherin thing to do, make sure they were only half the number of chairs that were needed so that all the girls were forced to sit on their laps. He smiled at this thought. He looked over and saw Ron trying to give up his chair for Pansy...he was far too chivalrous for his own good.

Several drinking games later, they were all a little tipsy and Blaise proposed playing a truth game. One person asked a question and everyone took turns answering it, but they had to tell the truth. Each person would get to ask a question. There were eight of them left to play the game: Blaise and Cho, Ron and Pansy, Draco and Rebecca, and Harry and Hermione.

"How many people have you slept with?" ask Blaise then he said "I'll answer first, 6."

Cho then answered "2"

Ron said "2"

Pansy said "2"

Draco said "10", which was followed by a lot of laughs

Rebecca said "1"

Then it was Harry and Hermione's turn and neither looked entirely comfortable answering the question. Harry was squirming in his seat before he finally sighed and answered "6"

Hermione was shocked saying "Harry!"

He smiled sheepishly and waited for her to answer

"2" she simply replied not making eye contact with anyone.

Harry and Ron were looking at her wondering who the other person was until Blaise spoke up and said "What, you mean you were with someone after Draco and didn't think to ask me to do the honors? I'm hurt, Mia, truly."

Hermione laughed, and then replied "funny Blaise, but I wasn't with anyone after Draco, but I'll be sure to keep you in mind."

"What do you mean you haven't been with anyone since Draco, you just said you slept with 2 people?" replied Blaise

"Honestly, it's quite simple, Blaise, I think you've had too much to drink. I slept with someone else before I slept with Draco."

"Really? Who?" asked Blaise

"I already answered a question from you Blaise, I believe it's someone else's turn to ask a question." replied Hermione. She could feel Harry and Ron staring at her and she needed to change the subject quickly. No such luck as she heard Pansy's question...

"What was your first time like? and give details" asked Pansy then she continued "mine was extremely awkward. Draco and I decided at the end of third year that we wanted to, and I quote, get losing our virginities out of the way, so we fumbled through awkwardly. It's pretty funny when I think back."

"Yes, it was quite awkward. I didn't know what the hell I was doing and it was over very quickly, but we got it out of the way and had a good laugh afterwards." replied Draco

"Well, my first time was in a broom closet. Adding awkward positioning to your first time is not a good thing." said Ron laughing

Rebecca then said "my first time was sweet and romantic. We were on the beach late at night looking up at the stars."

The whole group said "awwwww"

Cho picked up next and said "my first time was sweet as well, Cedric planned this whole romantic dinner and had candles everywhere, it was perfect."

Blaise then said "my first time was mysterious, I was sleeping in the dorms and I was woken up when a girl, that will remain unnamed, climbed into bed with me. We were up all night fooling around."

"You lucky bloke, I always wished that would happen to me." said Ron and everyone laughed.

Harry decided to let Hermione go last so he started "my first time was in the quidditch locker room, after a game, in third year. I was in the shower when a girl, that will also remain unnamed, came in. Well, one thing led to another and we ended up having sex in the shower, among other places" finished Harry smirking.

"Seriously, Harry. This stuff only happens to you." said Ron shaking his head.

Hermione laughed and said "my first time was intense and completely unconventional. It was in the room of requirement and they did everything to make sure I enjoyed myself."

"They?" asked almost everyone at the same time

Hermione blushed, nodded and elaborated a little "yes, there were two of them but I didn't sleep with both of them. One was there for support, I was terrified and needed a lot of hand holding. As I said it was unconventional but also very special." finished Hermione. Again she could feel Harry and Ron staring at her questioningly.

After a minute, Blaise shouted out "Potter, it was Potter and Weasley."

"What?" asked a very embarrassed Hermione

"It was these two here" Blaise said pointing to Harry and Ron

"Oh, right, of course..." said Hermione almost looking relieved, then she continued "No, Blaise it wasn't Harry and Ron"

"Alright then it must have been Finnegan and Thomas" replied Blaise

"No, Blaise it wasn't them either" said Hermione turning bright red

Ok, then Longbottom and someone else..."

Draco cut in and said "Blaise you're never going to guess so just give up, OK."

Blaise looked like he was going to continue but a fierce look from Draco told him to drop it.

Harry could have sworn Hermione mouthed a thank you to Draco.

"You know, I think it would have been nice to have someone else there for support my first time. It was quite terrifying" said Rebecca and Cho nodded in agreement.

"Ok, my turn, What do you think is the sexiest part of a guys or girls body?" asked Cho then answered "I like guys butts"

Everyone laughed seeing how red Cho got when she said that.

Blaise said "I'm a chest guy, I like a nice pair on a girl."

Ron said "I definitely like a nice behind"

Pansy said "shoulders, I like nice broad shoulders on a guy"

Draco said "I like a girls stomach, a nice shapely body with a tiny waist and flat stomach. I love that."

Rebecca said "chest, I like a guys chest."

Harry hesitated and then said "I like a girls mouth the best. Lips, tongue, teeth, the whole thing I find terribly sexy. It's amazing how good they can make you feel with their mouths." finished Harry blushing

He looked up to see all the guys nodding in agreement

Hermione then said "eyes. I love looking into a guys eyes. The color, the emotion that shows through, it's like a window to their soul. It makes me feel incredibly close to a guy when I look into his eyes. You can tell truth from lies, love from lust, so many things just by looking into their eyes."

The girls were all nodding in agreement.

"Well, I should head back to my dorm, it's late and I'm exhausted" said Rebecca standing up and Draco rose behind her and said "Ok, I'll walk you back."

"We should probably head back as well." said Hermione getting up off of Harry's lap and stretching. He happened to notice something shiny on her stomach as she did this but he wasn't sure what it was. He also got up and Ron did the same. They all said their goodbyes and Blaise whined that they hadn't finished their game yet.

Hermione said "well, maybe we can finish it next weekend, but only if we can add dares as well."

Blaise rolled his eyes and said "Fine...Bloody Gryffindors."

Harry and Hermione waited out in the hall while Ron said goodbye to Pansy and then they all made their way to Gryffindor tower. When they got there Ron said goodnight and headed up to the boys dorm, while Harry and Hermione headed up to her dorm. When they got up there Harry noticed that none of the other girls were there. He raised his eyebrows at this and Hermione simply said "they all spend the night in their boyfriends dorms."

Before Harry could reply Hermione was taking her clothes off...leaving him speechless. She clearly had too much to drink. She turned and got into bed, just in her bra and underwear. Harry just stared at her. "Harry are you going to get into bed anytime soon?" she said, clearly amused.

He nodded and slowly took his jeans and t-shirt off, leaving him in his boxers, and climbed into bed. Hermione curled up next to him and he wrapped his arm around her, noticing he was touching her bare skin on her back. He tried to think of something to say to distract himself "Hermione I noticed something shiny on your stomach when you were stretching earlier, what was it?"

To Harry's surprise Hermione sat up on her knees close to his head and gave him an up close look at what he saw "you have a belly ring?" he asked shocked.

"Yes. I got it over the summer. It hurt like hell but I love the way it looks. Do you like it?" asked Hermione

Harry nodded vigorously and found his hand reaching out to touch it. He realized this and stopped midway to it but Hermione said "it's fine Harry you can touch it." He did, he gently fingered the gold loop with the little diamond on it. He was pretty sure he understood what Malfoy was saying about a girls stomach being sexy now. Merlin, he was having a hard time breathing right now. The fact that Hermione was sitting there in very sexy lingerie wasn't helping him at all. He cleared his throat and took his hand back asking "What made you decide to get that?"

Hermione laid back down next to Harry and answered "I was trying to find a way to show that I wasn't just smart, that I could be sexy too, and it seemed like the best choice...so did it work?"

"Merlin, Yes" replied Harry smiling.

"Good to know. I did something else too...do you want to see it?" asked Hermione

"Are you trying to kill me tonight, Hermione? I'm not sure how much more I can take." said Harry laughing

"Oh, poor Harry, I guess I will take pity on you and spare you." replied Hermione

"You little minx, no way, now I'm dying of curiosity, I have to see." said Harry as he rolled over and stared at Hermione.

"Ok, if you're sure you can handle it Potter." replied Hermione smirking then she got up on her knees again but faced away from him and pulled her underwear down just a little to expose a patch of skin that Harry noticed had something moving on it. He moved closer to get a better look and realized it was a snitch, but it was magical, it was flying around in little circles very low on her back. Harry was speechless. It was incredibly sexy, especially when it would disappear into the skin that was still covered by her underwear. Again, he found his fingers reaching out and Hermione said "you can touch it if you want Harry, it responds to touch, it's a magical tattoo."

Harry nodded and reached out to touch the snitch. It seemed to be zooming around like a real snitch and he had to wait a minute to watch it and determine where it was headed. He finally reach out and touched it and it responded just like a real snitch, it fluttered for a minute as if trying to get away again and then it's wings stopped and closed up under his touch. But it was like electricity in his hands, it was amazing. He realized Hermione had just gasped and he asked "are you OK, does that hurt?"

She spoke shakily "No...not at all...it just felt like electricity there for a second, it's never done that before."

"I felt that too. This is amazing Hermione. Did you get this over the summer as well?" asked Harry

"Yeah, I had a busy summer" laughed Hermione then she continued "I thought it fitting that since I got a muggle piercing I should also get something magical. Draco and I found this tattoo parlor in a magical section of France and as soon as I saw the snitch, I knew it was perfect."

"Because Draco is a seeker?" asked Harry

"No, because so many of the wizards I'm close to are seekers. My boyfriend at the time, my ex, whose still a good friend, and most importantly my best friend..." finished Hermione blushing.

"Really, you were thinking of me when you got this?" asked Harry

"Truly." replied Hermione

Harry smiled and Hermione curled back up in his arms, both thinking how happy they were in that moment...

"Harry, can I ask you something?" Hermione said quietly

"Of course." replied Harry

"Well, I have to admit I was quite surprised tonight to find out you had been with so many girls...why so many? I mean you only dated a few girls and it didn't seem serious to me, I guess I'm just confused." said Hermione

"I could tell you were surprised. I don't talk about it like other guys do because it's no one's business, and I make sure that I trust the person I'm with to not talk about it as well." replied Harry

"Yes, but six girls is a lot Harry...how is it you managed to find six witches that agreed not to talk about shagging the great Harry Potter?" asked Hermione laughing

"That's just it, they weren't all witches..." replied Harry

"Oh really, do tell!" said Hermione

"3 witches, 3 muggles...the summers can be really long." said Harry smirking

"That explains how you've managed to keep it quiet. Any chance you'll fill me in on who the lucky witches were?" asked Hermione shyly

"Hermione, if you want to know, I'll tell you. I trust you not to say anything." replied Harry then he continued "Katie was my first and we fooled around for a while after that first time in the showers. Then fourth year after the second task, let's just say Fleur wanted to show her appreciation for saving Gabrielle. Fifth year was when I was with Cho, and really she was the only girl that I was at least in a relationship with." finished Harry

"So it was Katie in the locker room. I have to say I'm impressed with her courage, I don't think I would have the nerve to do that." replied Hermione

Harry laughed and said "yes, she's quite the Gryffindor. Ok, now it's your turn. I was completely shocked when you said that you were with someone besides Malfoy. Will you tell me about it?"

"I had already agreed to tell you about it tomorrow anyway Harry." replied Hermione

"You did, I don't remember talking about that?" asked Harry

"Well, you didn't realize at the time that's what we were talking about. We were talking about how I'm protected by House Black. I have a marking that shows I am part of House Black, and I received the marking and the protection by participating in a ritual...a sex ritual." replied Hermione quietly waiting for Harry's explosion

"WHAT!" yelled Harry moving Hermione over and off of him so that he could turn and look into her eyes.

She merely nodded in reply

"Hermione, why would you even do such a thing?" asked Harry

"The only way to mark someone who is not related by blood was by using that ritual. There was no other way." replied Hermione

"Yes, but why did you need to do the marking in the first place? What possible benefits could be enough to outweigh the fact that you had to participate in a sex ritual?"

"I don't want you to take this the wrong way or to feel guilty about this because I made the decision willingly, OK?" seeing Harry nod in understanding she finished "You"

"I'm sorry?" asked Harry

"Why did I do it...because of you. What benefits are there...your safety. You see the marking links me and I can be found no matter the wards in place. With everything that happened in the final task of the tri-wizard tournament, I started to think about all the times that you had been in danger and I realized that half of those times I was with you. I started to research tracking spells and came across the marking ritual. If I was marked and I was with you then we, or more importantly you, could be found if we were in danger."

"Hermione...Please tell me you are not serious." pleaded Harry

"Harry..."

"You said that you were terrified...that there were two of them...who are they? I'm going to kill them." replied Harry fiercely.

Hermione moved closer to Harry and hugged him so that she was lying on top of him, then she whispered in his ear "Harry, please, calm down, I will tell you everything and I'll show you my memories as well, but you have to understand that I asked for this to be done. No one made me do anything, I asked them. OK?"

"Ok" Harry breathed back

Remaining where she was propped on top of Harry she moved back just enough so that she could look him in the eyes. "It took months of convincing but once I managed that we came up with a plan that involved me traveling back in time so that no laws would be broken."

"Who did you have to convince?" asked Harry reluctantly

Hermione held her breath for a minute then said "Sirius."

"Sirius?" asked Harry clearly puzzled then his eyes narrowed and voice changed slightly when he asked "Did you have to do the ritual with Sirius, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded her reply then said shakily "yes, that's why I had to go back in time so that we were both underage at the time."

They were both silent for several minutes and Hermione rested her head down in the crook of Harry's neck and was rubbing his arm soothingly. Finally, Harry said "you mentioned that their were two people there, who was the other person?"

"Yes, there was another person there. The ritual required a witness and bonder that would have to mix their blood with mine and cast the spells at the right times." replied Hermione

"Hermione, you're avoiding the question, who was the other person?" asked Harry

Hermione sighed and picked her head up to look at Harry again then replied "It was your dad, Harry."

Harry jumped up out of bed, practically pushing Hermione off it in his haste. "You didn't just tell me that my godfather and my dead father took away your virginity during a dark, illegal, sex ritual...DID YOU?" yelled Harry angrily

Hermione was close to tears "Harry..."

"No, Hermione, No. This is fucking unbelievable, what's next...are you secretly in love with Snape?" yelled Harry

"Harry, please, I know it's a lot to take in but..." and then she faltered wiping the tears away from her face

"Jesus Christ Hermione, who the fuck are you? It's like I don't know you at all. When did this happen?" asked Harry and when she didn't immediately respond he yelled very loudly making Hermione jump "WHEN?"

"Chris...Christmas break...last year." stammered a scared and sobbing Hermione

"Of all the bloody people Hermione, out of all of them, you had to choose MY FATHER! It wasn't enough that you were going to have SEX WITH MY GODFATHER, you had to bring him into this as well?" Harry replied then took a few deep breaths before screaming at Hermione again "All this fucking time and you never said anything. You kept this hidden from me for a year...you got to meet my father...hell he saw you naked...it seems as though everyone has seen you naked except me" said Harry rudely clearly trying to hurt Hermione.

Hermione gasped in surprise and her chin started trembling as she tried to hold back the tears and the hurt that Harry had caused. She knew he would take this hard but she didn't expect him to insult her and try to purposely hurt her.

Harry seemed to realize he had gone too far and tried to reach out to Hermione but she quickly got up off the bed and put a shirt on over her her bra and underwear and wiped the tears off her face.

"Hermione...I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." said Harry softly

"Yes, I think you did Harry. You should go." replied Hermione trying to hold back the sobs, then she turned and walked away from him into the bathroom and slammed the door. She quickly cast locking and silencing charms and fell to the floor sobbing uncontrollably.

As soon as Hermione slammed the door, Harry thought he was going to be sick. He couldn't believe he just said that to her. Why did he have to have such a temper? She didn't deserve that no matter how pissed off he was about whatever the fuck happened. "FUCK!" yelled Harry before leaving the room and heading down to the common room.

Surprisingly Ron was at the bottom of the stairs. He looked furious and Harry knew that he heard his and Hermione's fight.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU HARRY?" yelled Ron pushing Harry backwards until he was up against a wall, then he continued "HOW DARE YOU TALK TO HERMIONE LIKE THAT!"

Harry raised his hands in surrender and said "I don't know what came over me Ron. I can't believe I said that to her. She looked so surprised and...hurt when I said that. I tried to apologize but she wouldn't let me. She just ran in the bathroom and slammed the door. What do I do?" said a heartbroken Harry

Ron seemed to calm down once he realized Harry felt bad and didn't intentionally say those things to Hermione. He sighed and then said "I don't know Harry, let her be for the night and try and talk to her tomorrow."

Harry nodded and followed his friend back up to his dorm. He couldn't sleep, he kept replaying the fight over and over in his head and he couldn't get Hermione's look of hurt out of his head while he tossed and turned. He finally dozed off when the sun was coming up.

 

**Chapter 6**  

Suddenly Harry was being shaken awake after what seemed like only 5 minutes of sleep. He opened his eyes and said "What?"

Ron was there and said "Sirius is in the common room waiting for you. He told me to wake you."

Harry groaned in response, got up reluctantly and dressed quickly heading down to the common room to see Sirius. He was dreading this conversation.

"Harry" said Sirius smiling but then it slowly faded as he took in Harry's appearance and demeanor. "Where's Hermione, is she coming down?" he asked

"She's not up there...she stayed in her dorm last night." replied Harry stoically.

Sirius looked at Harry questioningly for a minute and then said "Ok, well then why don't you head up and tell her to come down so we can talk."

"I don't think that's a good idea Sirius...we sort of had a fight." said Harry reluctantly

Sirius sighed and then turned to a random girl and said "Would you mind terribly going up and asking Miss Granger to meet Mr. Black in the common room?"

The girl smiled, then nodded and headed up the stairs to get Hermione. They waited in silence for a few minutes until she came back down. The girl walked back over and said "Sorry but she told me to tell you to go ahead without her. She said she's not coming and no she doesn't want you to wait and do it another time, just do it without her."

Sirius frowned at this and looked at Harry, who was looking quite guilty. "Let's go" he said and walked away from Harry and out of the common room. They walked in silence until they reached the room of requirement and Harry watched as Sirius paced in front of the wall, summoning the room he needed. When they entered it was a simple room, not unlike the common room, with a fireplace, two couches and a coffee table in between them. On the table was a pensive. Sirius sat down and looked at Harry expectantly "What happened?" he asked simply.

"We got into a fight" said Harry.

"About?" replied Sirius

Harry sighed and threw his hands in the air in frustration then replied "you, Dad, whatever the fuck you did to her."

"OK... but we expected you to be angry Harry. That doesn't explain why Hermione refuses to be here. We went over this many times, and it was always important to her that we told you everything together when the time came. So what else happened to make her not want to be anywhere near you?" asked Sirius angrily

Harry glowered at him and then mumbled "I pretty much called her a whore when she told me."

"YOU WHAT?" yelled Sirius jumping up

Harry was surprised by his reaction and thought that Sirius might actually hit him he looked so angry...scarily angry. "I didn't mean to, I was just so pissed that I said it without thinking. I tried to apologize but she wouldn't listen. She told me to leave and I haven't seen her since." said Harry desperately

"You're an asshole, Harry and you're going to feel even worse once you see these memories. Hermione and I put them together for you so that you could understand everything, so that you could see for yourself and make your own judgement. I have nothing else to say to you right now so here, see for yourself" said Sirius pouring the memories into the pensive and gesturing to Harry to view them.

Sirius told Harry that he would view Hermione's memories first. Harry nodded, took a deep breath and entered the pensive memories...

**Hermione's Memories**

The memory Hermione was walking into the Great Hall at what appeared to be dinner time, as the hall was completely full. When she passed Sirius and James, she smiled genuinely. Everyone stared at her as she walked up to the staff table and approached Professor Dumbledore to hand him a letter. He said hello and read the letter. He then excused himself from the table and asked Hermione to come with him. He stopped at the Gryffindor table and asked Sirius and James to come with him. While waiting for them to grab their things he called Lily over and said "Miss Granger will be staying in Gryffindor Tower for the next week, would you please see that she has everything she needs and also if you could take her to classes with you, I would be most appreciative."

Lily looked at Hermione curiously and then replied "I would be happy to Professor."

"Excellent. I will have Mr. Black let you know when they have returned to Gryffindor Tower. Thank you again, Miss Evans" replied Prof. Dumbledore and he turned and walked out of the Great Hall with Hermione, James and Sirius following him.

When they arrived in Professor Dumbledore's office they all sat down and Prof. Dumbledore said "Well Miss Granger, I find myself quite curious to know why you are here. I have this most interesting letter from none other than myself indicating that you will be here for 1 week and that it is of utmost importance to the fall of Voldemort that you meet up with Mr. Black and Mr. Potter to accomplish your task. Would you care to elaborate?"

Hermione took a deep breathe and began "Yes, Professor. As you may have already guessed, I have travelled back in time. I am currently a fifth year Gryffindor and the year I came from was 1995. I cannot tell you everything as I do not want to alter the course of the future, however, I can tell you that I am here to help protect my best friend. He has been instrumental in the fight against Voldemort and many sacrifices have been made to ensure his safety."

Sirius and James were speechless and just looked at Hermione.

"And what is this plan that provides extra protection for your friend?" asked Prof. Dumbledore

"I can't tell you, Sir, as it would be impossible to understand without knowing all the facts. I am only to discuss the plan with Sirius and James." replied Hermione

"Yes, I see that I wrote myself a note that I will not be told what the plan is and that I should accept that but I couldn't help but try." said Prof. Dumbledore smiling then he continued "Well, why don't I give you some time to fill Mr. Black and Mr. Potter in. I will be back in an hour and then you can head back to the tower."

"Thank you, Sir." said Hermione

When he had left she turned to Sirius and said "You're much quieter than your future self, aren't you going to ask me questions or fly off the handle?"

Sirius laughed and then said "I'm sorry, it's not everyday that something like this happens to me but I will try harder to live up to your expectations." His eyes were twinkling and Hermione couldn't help but think how incredibly handsome he was right now.

"That would be greatly appreciated. Now I have a letter for you both as well" replied Hermione and then she reached into her bag and pulled out two letters one with Padfoot scrawled across it, the other with Prongs scrawled across it and handed one to each of them. She waited patiently while they read the letters...

_Padfoot,_

_You must feel like your losing your mind right now but trust me this is all very serious. Hah, serious, get it? Anyway, Hermione is here to help protect your Godson, Harry. We have all made many sacrifices to protect Harry and I cannot explain to you how much I love him like a son._

_The fight against Voldemort is still going and Hermione needs you to do this task...she will explain everything to you but please do not doubt the need for this to be done._

_Hermione is Harry's best friend and so much more. He has already faced Voldemort many times and survived. Hermione is almost always by his side and we both fear that things are getting much more dangerous for Harry after his last meeting with Voldemort. We would like to ensure that we can find Harry if he is taken. There truly is no other way. There is one other thing...James must be involved. I cannot tell you more than that but it is essential, without James this cannot be done. I have written him a letter as well._

_Please trust Hermione and take good care of her while she is there. She is the brightest witch I have ever known and also one of the bravest._

_See you in the future!_

_Sirius_

_Prongs_

_I know that you have already probably read my letter to myself so I will not repeat what I said there. I am writing this from the future, 1995 to be exact, and I wish I could be there to see you. So many things have happened that I cannot tell you about but know that Hermione is doing the same as so many of us have done, protecting my Godson, Harry. Trust me when I say that Harry's safety is of the utmost importance to you as well. I don't know how you will feel about doing this task but it is the only way that we have found to give Harry some much needed extra protection. I need you to help me do this, I can't explain the reasons but just trust me that it needs to be you._

_Please take care of Hermione while she is there and make sure that she comes back safely...Harry would kill me if anything ever happened to her! I know that we don't usually say things like this but I feel the need to say it now...You are and have always been my best friend. Take care of yourself until we meet again._

_Padfoot_

Sirius looked up at Hermione expectantly and asked "What is this task you need James and I to do?"

Hermione bit her lip nervously and asked "Are you familiar with Markings?"

Sirius frowned and replied "that's very dark magic."

"I know the way it's been used in the past has been dark..." started Hermione but Sirius cut her off saying "Hermione, it's dark, there's no way around it. Markings are an archaic ritual used by purebloods to claim a virginal girl and Mark her as theirs. The girl is tied to the Marker for life and is generally used as a sex slave."

Hermione sighed and gave in "Fine, you're right it is dark, but hear me out, OK?"

They both nodded in response and Hermione continued "I began researching tracking spells and searched every book I could find for a spell that would be able to locate and bring us to Harry should he be taken by Voldemort again."

"Again?" asked Sirius and James together

Hermione just nodded and continued "I've searched every book in Hogwarts including the restricted section, as well as all the books in the Black library. All the tracking spells I found that we could put on Harry had flaws that would keep them from working if certain wards were put in place. Then I realized that I'm almost always with Harry and began to research tracking spells that could be used on witches and I found the Marking spell, which can bring the Marker to the witch no matter the wards in place. If I was Marked and something happened to Harry, my Marker would be able to find Harry and save him. As his Godfather you are the person that he and I trust most with his safety and are the obvious choice to be the Marker."

Sirius looked up to see Hermione nervously biting her lip waiting for his response. She didn't have to wait long as he yelled "Are you stark raving mad? I don't even know you and you want me to Mark you? This is crazy! "

"I know it's crazy, Sirius." said Hermione

"So let me get this straight, you are my godson's best friend, presumably you are a virgin, and you've come back in time so that I can perform a dark sex ritual on you that will tie you to me for life, in a way that basically makes you my sex slave, and you want me to do this so that if by some chance my Godson is taken by Voldemort and you just happen to be with him, I will be able to find him?" asked Sirius like he was talking to a mental patient.

"Yes" replied Hermione simply, but then when she saw that they both still looked stunned and unconvinced so she continued "I think I can tell you what happened to make me want to do this so badly without altering the future, if I leave out the names and some of the details."

She took a deep breath and explained what happened, "You see last year, our fourth year, during the Twi-wizard tournament, a death eater was able to polyjuice himself so that he was a Hogwarts teacher. The teacher charmed the cup so that Harry would be picked as a champion and then mentored Harry throughout the tournament to earn his trust. In the final task, the teacher used the imperious curse on Victor, my boyfriend at the time, who was also a champion, to attack the other champions so that Harry would be the only one remaining. Harry heard what was going on and stopped Victor. Harry and another champion made it through to the end, but they had both saved each other from danger, so they decided to take the cup together and when they grabbed it, it was a portkey. When they were transported to the other site they were surrounded by death eaters and the other champion was attacked and nearly died. Harry was tied up, tortured, used in a dark ritual and forced to fight Voldemort for his life. I can't go into details but Harry managed to get enough time to grab the other champion and the cup to portkey back to Hogwarts."

Hermione continued in a strong voice "That's why I am so determined to do this. Harry could have been killed and we wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. I refuse to stand by when there's something I can do to help him. Even if there's only a small chance that I will be with him when he needs help, I want to make sure that I do everything I can to help him survive. He's my best friend and so much more. I love him dearly and I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. So, please, I want to do this."

Sirius said "I really don't know what to say Hermione. That sounds like a terrible ordeal for your friend to have to go through. It certainly helps me understand better why you feel the need to do this"

"I can't help feeling this isn't the way. You shouldn't sacrifice yourself like this." said James

"It's just one time." said Hermione

"It's your first time. There's a big difference." replied James

"You don't understand!" yelled Hermione getting frustrated and then tears started to well up in her eyes and she tried to continue "I'm just so scared...he could have died that night in the graveyard...and there was nothing we could do to help him...if it happens again...if something happened...and I didn't do everything I could...I wouldn't be able to live with myself" finished Hermione trying to hold herself together.

"No, I don't think you understand! You would be tied to whoever marks you for life... They could use you as a sex slave if they wanted and you would never be able to get away." yelled James

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THIS! THAT'S WHY I WANT SIRIUS TO DO IT, I KNOW THAT HE WON'T DO THAT TO ME!" screamed Hermione with tears running down her face.

"Wait a minute...Why me, why not James? That's a lot of faith to put in me...I'm a Black! I'm related to practically every dark wizarding family there is!" replied Sirius

"It has to be you, Sirius. You have to be the one to Mark me. You are Harry's Godfather. That's all I can say. James needs to be the bonder." replied Hermione composing herself again. "It's a complicated spell but I've switched it so that only you can touch me and not your whole family, while James' whole family will be able to touch me without alarming you."

"How does that help, you still are opening yourself up to who knows what wizards. No offense, James." replied Sirius

"I can't tell you the exact reasons why this is better... Just trust me that it's safer this way" said Hermione.

"This is a lot to ask of me. I don't even know you. It's not fair to put this on me!" replied Sirius angrily.

"SIRIUS NONE OF THIS IS FAIR...YOU THINK I WANT THIS...YOU THINK I WANT MY FIRST TIME TO BE WITH ANYONE OTHER THAN HARRY?" screamed Hermione choking back sobs. She took a moment to collect herself and continued more controlled "it's not supposed to be with you or Merlin knows who else. But I'm not going to back down. It's a small sacrifice. Just one time and Harry will be so much safer than he is now." She paused for a moment and then said "I have a few things I brought with me in case I needed persuade you to believe me" said Hermione and then she lifted a necklace over her head and handed it to Sirius. Hanging from the necklace was the Black Family ring that only the Head of House would wear. Then she pulled out some parchment and pointed her wand at it and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." She then handed them the Marauder's Map to look at. Finally she pulled out a picture of Sirius laughing with a baby Harry shoving food in his face. She gave them time to look everything over. Then Hermione said "I have one more thing that I brought in case James needed extra convincing" and she pulled out the invisibility cloak and handed it to him.

He jumped up out of his chair and stared at Hermione in shock, finally asking "How did you get this?"

"It's Harry's" she replied quietly. She waited a few minutes for the shock to pass and she could see that both Sirius and James understood what that meant.

"Do you both believe me that this needs to be done?" asked Hermione

Sirius nodded and said quietly "yes I believe you, but that doesn't mean that I want to do the Marking..."

"Why are you not sure about the Marking?" asked Hermione

"Hermione, you're a virgin." replied Sirius.

Hermione nodded and asked "Why does that make a difference to you?"

"I'm just not the guy that girls lose their virginities to. Your first time is supposed to be special, it's supposed to be with a guy that loves you and all that. I'm just not that guy." said Sirius

"I know you think there are all these expectations but there's not. I know what I'm agreeing to. I know that you don't love me. This is a small sacrifice that I am making for the greater good. I understand that. It's just one time, one night out of my life. I've made peace with that." replied Hermione

Sirius got up and started pacing around the room. Hermione let him be for a while, but then after 10 minutes she got up and walked over to him placing her hand on his face and said "you are a good man, Sirius Black, and I trust you completely. Please, I need you to do this for me."

Sirius sighed heavily and said "OK."

Hermione couldn't resist the urge to hug Sirius, he just looked so lost. He was quite surprised by the gesture but hugged her back. She broke away and smiled at him,

then she asked "Will you help us James?"

He nodded his response still holding onto the cloak.

"Thank you" replied Hermione quietly and she reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder. Then she said "we should head back to Gryffindor Tower, it's getting late and I'm quite tired. We can go over the spell and plan everything out tomorrow after classes. I'm going to classes with Lily Evans, so I assume we will be in some of the same classes. I should put those away first though" said Hermione indicating the items she had given Sirius and James.

They nodded and handed them back to her. After she put them away they all got up and headed back to the common room, completely exhausted.

The memory then changed to the next day and followed Hermione through classes with Lily, Sirius and James. Harry found it funny that Hermione was taking notes in class even though she clearly wasn't going to be tested on any of it, it was classic Hermione.

The memory shifted again to Hermione, Sirius and James in the Room of Requirement discussing the spell and the plan. Hermione handed the spell book to Sirius and James to read and waited patiently for their questions. Harry was surprised to see that both his Dad and Sirius were blushing when they finished reading the spell.

"Do you have any questions?" asked Hermione and when neither responded but just continued to blush she added "look, I know it's a very intimate spell and we don't know each other that well but we should really talk about it beforehand so we don't do it wrong."

At this James and Sirius burst out laughing

"Oh, honestly. I didn't mean it that way" replied Hermione blushing now as well.

They all had a good laugh and it seemed to help ease the tension a little. Hermione tried again "alright, why don't we just start at the beginning of the spell and work our way through. I've already gone over this several times with my Sirius so I'm pretty familiar with what we need to do, but I want to make sure we are all on the same page." Seeing Sirius and James nod in consent she continued "to start the ritual James and I will need to both cut our hands, drawing blood and then hold hands. Once we have done this James will have to say the spell here (she pointed to it) while drawing an arc above Sirius and I with his wand." Hermione then continued as best she could going over the exact details of the ritual blushing furiously. She couldn't possibly be more embarrassed. If she could crawl under a rock right now she would.

James was finding this all terribly funny and said to Sirius "I don't know if you are up to the task Padfoot, we might be here all night waiting."

Sirius whacked James on the back of the head and said "You git, don't worry about my performance I'll be fine. You just worry about keeping your eyes off of my gorgeous body."

"Hah, that's a laugh! I'll try and control myself." replied James

They both were laughing for several minutes, then they turned to Hermione noticing she was very quiet.

James spoke up and said "Hermione, are you sure you want to do this? I may not know you very well but I can't help but feel I'm supposed to look out for you."

Hermione smiled a little and replied "yeah, I'm sure. It's just... I'm a little nervous."

They both stopped laughed then Sirius said "You are here for the week, right?"

"Yes, this is my second night, so I have four more nights here" replied Hermione

"Well, it may not be much but I would like to try and make this easier on you. Why don't we spend the next three nights getting to know each other, sort of dating I guess, and do the ritual on the last night you are here?" said Sirius

"Sirius, you don't have to do that, really." replied Hermione

"I know. I want to. It's the least I can do for you. Besides I get the feeling that my Godson would be furious with me if I don't try. And you should probably spend a fair amount of time with Prongs here as well." answered Sirius.

James nodded in agreement and said "I think that sounds like a good plan. Consider us all inseparable for the next four nights."

Hermione smiled genuinely and asked "are you sure? I don't want to intrude. I know you must have other things to do, with your classes and Quidditch, your friends, and girls that you are seeing..."

"This is more important. You are more important right now. End of story." replied Sirius looking straight at Hermione.

She smiled and nodded.

The memories then started to change and go by quickly. There were memories of Hermione laughing with Sirius and James; memories of Sirius holding Hermione's hand in the halls, hugging her, kissing her outside the common room; memories of Hermione and Lily talking; a memory of Sirius and James arguing with Lucius Malfoy and Regulus Black while standing in front of a furious Hermione; a memory of James and Sirius trying to get Hermione comfortable flying, each taking her flying while she practically choked them to death; another memory of Sirius and Hermione having dinner together, alone in the Room of Requirement becoming familiar with each other.

Harry was then abruptly brought out of the pensive and Sirius walked over and told him that he would now see his memories, pouring them in for Harry to view...

**Sirius' Memories**

They approached the Room of Requirement and Sirius indicated that he wanted to provide the room. She stepped in when he opened the door and the room was beautiful, there was a large four poster bed in the middle of the room with sheer curtains hanging all around it. There was also a sitting area with a loveseat, two comfy chairs and a roaring fireplace. There was also a table with glasses on it and what appeared to be a bathroom. Harry wasn't great with colors but it looked to him like everything was maroon, a light pink color and cream. Hermione turned and smiled genuinely at Sirius and squeezed his hand in thanks.

He then pulled out a bottle of firewhisky and said "I think we should have one to calm our nerves a little, what do you say?" They brought their filled glasses to the sitting area and Sirius raised his glass and said "To memories."

After a few minutes Sirius got up and moved to the loveseat with Hermione, looked in her eyes, and asked "are you ready?" She nodded her response and handed Sirius the Black Family ring to put on. He did so then brought his hands up to her face and started kissing her. They continued like this for quite a while, neither wanting to rush anything until they both were breathing heavily. Sirius started to kiss Hermione's neck and wrapped one of his hands in her hair pulling back gently so that her neck was more exposed to him. Then he started to slowly unbutton Hermione's top, kissing his way down as new skin was exposed. He moved so that he was kneeling on the floor in front of Hermione and spent a fair bit of time exploring Hermione's stomach. Then he looked in her eyes again and on her nod started to undo the top of her pants. Once undone, Hermione stood up and removed her shoes, allowing Sirius to take her pants off completely. He stared at her in wonder and started to kiss his way up her legs, touching her skin softly with his hands as he went. He spent some more time on her stomach and then stood again and worked on her neck and finally started kissing her again.

She turned to Sirius and he smiled at her comfortingly as she went to remove her bra, but Sirius said "No, don't. I'll take care of it. There's no rush." She nodded gratefully

...

Suddenly there was a gold glow encircling Hermione and she gasped in surprise, however, she quickly forgot about the glow when Sirius started licking and sucking on her earlobe. She moaned in response and Sirius chuckled.

Hermione closed her eyes and moaned in response to Sirius' affections on her. He was playfully nipping, kissing, and sucking what seemed like everywhere. It was driving Hermione crazy and she thought she would just burst from the feeling of it.

She moaned again but after a few more minutes she couldn't take it anymore and said pleadingly "...Please, it's too much."

He immediately became concerned, stopped and moved up closer. Sirius nodded in concern and laid down next to Hermione and hugged her gently. Hermione's breathing slowly returned to normal. Finally Sirius gently asked "Hermione, love, I know that you haven't had sex before but have you done other things?"

Her face instantly blushed and she turned to the side and buried her face shaking her head and quietly said "no." Sirius was shocked. She was such an innocent witch, how could he possibly do this to her? Sirius came up much closer behind Hermione and started to rub her back soothingly, then he said tentatively "Love, maybe we shouldn't do this. I don't want you to regret anything. I just think it's too much for you to do all in one night."

To his horror, Hermione started to cry. Finally she stopped crying and said "No, I want to do this. It's just a lot of emotions and everything is so intense."

She wiped her eyes and pulled herself together more and then continued "It's just Victor, that was my boyfriend last year, was always so scared to touch me. We would be snogging and I would want to do more but he always would stop and say that I was too young. No matter how many times I told him that I wanted to go on he wouldn't. One time when we were fighting about it he slipped and mentioned Harry. I think he was scared of what Harry would do if he thought Victor took advantage of me. You see, Victor was a seventh year from Durmstrang, he was at Hogwarts for the Twi-Wizard tournament, he was one of the champions, and plus he was a professional Quidditch player for Bulgaria. He was in the tournament with Harry and he knew I was Harry's best friend and I was only in fourth year, but Harry swore that he never said anything to Victor. He told me how Victor asked him if Harry and I were together and Harry told him we weren't that we were only friends. But still Victor wouldn't do much more than run his hands over me above my clothes, so no, I've never done any of this" finished Hermione quickly.

Sirius was in awe of what she just said. Finally he spoke up and said "Your last boyfriend was a seventh year professional quidditch playing twi-wizard champion from Durmstrang?"

Hermione laughed and said "yes."

"And he was afraid to touch you because of what my Godson might do?" asked Sirius flabbergasted

Hermione laughed some more and said "yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous. But in fairness to Victor, Harry can be quite intimidating and there is that small bit about him being able to walk away from Voldemort every time they've met...so far" finished Hermione quietly.

"Love, isn't it possible that everyone is underestimating Harry and that he doesn't need us to do this to protect him?" asked Sirius carefully

Hermione sighed and thought about what he said for a few minutes before responding "It's not that I don't believe Harry can beat Voldemort, it's that I don't want to risk losing Harry. I Are you sure you want to continue?"

Hermione replied "Yes, I'm positive."

"Ok, then. I'll go much slower, Love. There's no rush, we have all night and I'll take my time so I don't overwhelm you again, OK?" asked Sirius

"Thanks" said Hermione smiling and then she turned her head towards Sirius, as he was still behind her, and started to kiss him. The kisses were much slower this time and Sirius let her decide the pace, following her lead. Finally after an hour or so of this Hermione started to run her hands above Sirius' clothes and pulled away smiling to say "you're overdressed" then she started to pull his shirt up and he took it off quickly. She explored his chest, arms and shoulders in detail, as if she was trying to memorize his every inch. It was driving him crazy and he had to use all his will power to stay in control of himself. When he could take no more he stopped her and said "Love, may I do the same to you?"

She smiled and nodded yes. Sirius laid her back down and began to focus his attention on her upper body. He continued for quite some time, enjoying the noises she was making in response. Every so often he would stop and look up at her to make sure she was ok. The last time he did that she made a frustrated noise of disapproval and he laughed. He was enjoying himself as he had never before taken so much time getting to know his witches. Sirius moved back up and started kissing Hermione again, he then ran his hands over her upper body moving them slowly downwards. He went slow enough so that Hermione could stop him if she wasn't ready yet but she did not stop him but grabbed him to kiss him again. Knowing that it was OK, he continued exploring her, taking his time.

...

He looked at Hermione, she was so beautiful, she was flushed and her hair was wild and she had a slight shimmer of sweat all over her body. It was breathtaking really. Sirius moved over closer to her and whispered in her ear "You take my breath away."

Sirius then got up on his hands and knees and crawled over Hermione and started slowly again, just kissing and caressing her but it escalated quickly and soon they both had passionate looks in their eyes. He began smothering her upper body in kisses again, gently nipping and then licking and blowing on each spot. He was driving Hermione crazy and he moved lower on Hermione's body. He stopped as he got to her last piece of clothing, looked up and asked "may I?" Hermione bit her lip again, and nodded yes. Sirius smiled and slowly removed it.

Sirius got up off the bed to remove the rest of his clothes. His movement surprised Hermione and she turned to see what he was doing, immediately blushing when she saw him. He crawled back on the bed and returned to his place. He immediately started kissing her but she pulled away after a few minutes and looked at him nervously. "What is it, Love?" he asked

"It's just ..." she blushed then said "will it hurt a lot?"

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows and said "I don't know, honestly. I've never been anyone's first before, but from what I've heard it will hurt at first but after a little while the pain will fade away and it will start to feel good. Does that make you feel better?"

"Yes, thank you" replied Hermione softly.

Sirius got closer to her and laid down in front of her on his side. He whispered in her ear "it's alright, nothing will happen until you want it to." She nodded gratefully in response and Sirius started worshipping her body again, focusing on the spots that he had learned were her favorites.

It didn't take long for her to forget her nervousness and enjoy what Sirius was doing and he looked in her eyes to confirm that she was truly ready and saw nothing but desire there, no panic or fear, so he told her to bite down on his shoulder. She looked at him strangely but did as he asked and before she could take a breath he was there and she bit down hard in response to the pain. After recovering from the shock she realized she could taste blood in her mouth and looked down to his shoulder to see she had bitten him pretty badly. She pulled her head back a little and said "Oh, Sirius, I'm so sorry, I made you bleed."

He chuckled in response and said "I didn't even notice, Love, don't worry about it. Are you OK?"

"Yes, I think I am..." whispered Hermione

...

The golden glow seemed to explode and settle on Hermione, making her skin sparkle a little. She yelped in surprise when she felt a stinging sensation but quickly forgot about it.

She curled up in his arms and closed her eyes enjoying his warmth. Sirius shifted and pulled up the covers over them before lying back down. Hermione lightly kissed his lips before falling fast asleep.

Hermione was awoken by someone kissing her nose and when she opened her eyes she saw Sirius smiling at her "Good morning, Love, did you sleep well?" he asked.

She smiled and stretched feeling his arms wrapped tightly around her waist then said "yes, I did."

"Hermione, last night was amazing. I've never experienced anything like that before." said Sirius

She blushed and dropped her eyes and he brought his hand up under her chin and raised it just slightly so that he could look in her eyes before continuing "I think that now I understand the difference between having sex and making love. All this time I've been having sex but last night...I made love to you. Thank you for sharing that with me."

She smiled and replied quietly "Thank you for making it so special. It was so much more than I had expected and more than I could have ever hoped for."

They stayed in bed for a while longer talking and cuddling, trying to deny the fact that Hermione had to go home, before they finally got up. They showered and dressed and Hermione figured out what the stinging sensation was when she noticed the Marking of the Black Family Crest, just below her underwear line on her stomach and smiled.

The memory then changed as she went to retrieve her things and she said her goodbyes to Prof. Dumbledore and Lily.

She turned to say goodbye to Sirius who was grinning and he asked "When do you turn 17?"

"September 1997" replied Hermione.

Sirius groaned and then said "well consider yourself already having a date for the entire month."

Hermione laughed and gave him a hug. She pulled out her time turner and said to them "I love you both, take care, and I'll see you soon" and went back to her own time.

Harry was abruptly brought back to the present He looked up to see Sirius watching him intently...

Sirius asked "Do you want to see your Dad's memories?"

Harry merely nodded and Sirius brought the memories over and put it into the pensive for Harry to see...

**James' Memories**

James stood up and took Hermione's hand and asked "Hermione, where do you want me to be?"

"Right next to me James, I'm scared." said Hermione quietly

"Don't be. I promise I'll be right here with you. Just try and relax and enjoy yourself." he replied and kissed Hermione on the cheek.

She turned to James who had retrieved the knife and was cutting his palm. He then handed the knife to Hermione and she cut her palm as well and then put the knife down. They smiled at each other for a minute before joining hands and getting on the bed together. James was lying on his left side facing Hermione who was laying on her back.

James then started chanting the words of the spell while waving his wand over the couple. James' part was now done until the end so he whispered to Hermione soothing words of support. She turned her head towards James and they just looked into each others eyes for a while.

She had a wild look in her eyes when she next met James' gaze that took his breath away. He reached up with his free hand and pushed the stray hair out of her face and rubbed his thumb against her cheek, and said "it's OK, let yourself go."

She nodded and moaned again but after a few more minutes she couldn't take it anymore and said pleadingly "James, please, it's too much." He immediately became concerned and wrapped his free arm around her and brought her even closer. Hermione blushed and she turned to the side and buried her face in the crook of James' neck.

To James' horror, Hermione started to cry. She sobbed into his chest for several minutes while James whispered soothing words to her.

...

James who was looking at Hermione with a sense of wonder in his eyes. He broke the silence and said "Hermione, that was by far the sexiest thing I have ever seen. You are so beautiful right now."

Hermione giggled and curled up into James' embrace hiding her face in embarrassment.

"It's very difficult to see you like this, your so beautiful and innocent and the noises you make...it's just hard..."

Hermione looked stricken and said "Oh, James, I'm so sorry. I didn't even think ..."

James shook his head and replied "No, don't be sorry Hermione. I'm fine, really."

She looked into his eyes to confirm that he was in fact fine and he repeated softly "Really."

"Alright, if you're sure... James, it's... it's just...complicated" replied Hermione softly touching his face with her free hand.

"I'm here to support you, just as a friend should. Really, I'm fine. Just tell me what you need, OK?" replied James

"OK." said Hermione

...

James looked at her and asked "are you alright?" She practically yelled "yes!" and he chuckled. Her eyes flew open and she stared at James, feeling like she was in heaven. He smiled at her and brought their joined hands up to his mouth and kissed her fingers.

...

James was kissing her cheek and running his free hand through her wild hair telling her how beautiful she was. The whole thing felt like a dream to Hermione.

...

She looked up and asked James "will you do something for me?"

"Of course." said James

"Will you lie behind me? I will feel more supported with your arm wrapped around me." asked a blushing Hermione

James smiled and then he started to move to the other side of Hermione. Just before he was going to lie down, Hermione turned to him and asked "Would you do one more thing for me James?" He nodded in response and she said "Will you take your shirt and pants off...will you just leave your boxers on?" Hermione thought she would just die of embarrassment any minute now, she couldn't believe she was saying these things out loud. After recovering from his momentary shock James did as Hermione asked. When he finally laid down behind her she breathed a sigh of relief and said "Thank you." He kissed her shoulder and replied "my pleasure" smiling.

Hermione squeezed James' hand tight and pulled him even closer so that he was breathing on her neck. James whispered in her ear "it's alright, just relax."

James told her how amazing and brave she was.

James grabbed his wand so that he would have it when he needed to say the spell again, then he started to kiss Hermione's neck and then took her earlobe in his mouth, while pulling her closer to him. After another few minutes James chanted the words to the spell.

James whispered "Hermione, I hope you're not mad..."

"No, of course I'm not mad at you! You were amazing and so supportive and you did exactly what I needed you to do...Thank you." She then lightly kissed his lips.

The memory changed and showed Hermione saying goodbye to James. He was hugging Hermione who was crying. He wiped away her tears, and said "it's alright, Hermione. If I don't see you again in this life, I'll see you in the next. Take good care of my boy for me." Hermione gasped in surprise and he just smiled back at her and hugged her fiercely.

After talking with Sirius for a few minutes she turned back to James and kissed him on the cheek and hugged him again. Then she finally let go of his hand. She pulled out her time turner and said to them "I love you both, take care, and I'll see you soon" and went back to her own time.

For the last time Harry was brought out of the pensive and back to his own time. He quickly sat down before his legs gave out and tried to grasp all he had just seen...

Sirius had been waiting patiently for Harry to say something after seeing the memories in the pensive. But it had been 10 minutes already and still Harry had said nothing. Finally Sirius asked "Well?"

"Bloody hell Sirius, give me a minute" replied Harry shakily. They sat in silence for several more minutes before Harry spoke again "I don't really know where to start...I'm furious with you that you did that to her but I'm also grateful that you took such good care of her. I'm in awe that she would do such a thing for me but also thoroughly annoyed that she did. I don't even know what to say about my Dad, he seemed to be a good friend to her but I also wasn't that comfortable with him touching her, and that's to say nothing of how uncomfortable I was watching you touch her."

Harry was breathing heavily and now got up to pace around the room "I mean I'm never going to be able to get that out of my head." said Harry pulling his hair

"What bothers you the most?" asked Sirius

"All of it." replied Harry

"No, you know what's bothering you, so be a man about it and just come out and say it, will you." said Sirius angrily

Harry jumped a little in surprise at Sirius' raised voice but quickly turned angry thinking about what was really bothering him. Finally, he yelled back "YOU TOUCHED HER, THAT'S WHAT BOTHERS ME, YOU FUCKING TOUCHED HER!"

"I thought that was the problem. You can accept the fact that Hermione sacrificed herself for you, you can even accept the fact of the Marking in general, but the thought, or the vision in this case, of someone else, me or your Dad, touching Hermione is too much for you." replied Sirius smirking then he continued "Just admit that you're in love with her and tell her for Merlin's sake!"

"WHAT? I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH HER...SHE'S MY BEST FRIEND..." replied Harry quickly...too quickly

Sirius laughed in response and said "Sure, your not. Why then does it bother you knowing that I had sex with her, knowing that your Dad slept next to her while she was naked, knowing that Malfoy has touched her. It's because your jealous...and you may not realize it yet but you ARE in love with her. You're also quite possessive of her, you've always been but especially these last few months."

"You're mental. I'm NOT in love with her, I'm NOT." replied Harry

"OK, then, how does this make you feel... I plan on keeping my promise to her about dating her once she turns 17." replied Sirius smirking

Harry didn't even think, he just responded with a growl and lunged at Sirius pinning him to the wall. Sirius laughed as much as he could what with Harry's arm across his throat. The noise seemed to bring Harry out of his actions and he stepped away from Sirius with a shocked expression on his face. Sirius just laughed some more and patted Harry on the shoulder and said "you do love her Harry, but you need to accept it and tell her. She won't wait forever and I'm sure there are plenty of Wizards just itching to ask her out. Besides me, of course."

Harry quickly sat down and started thinking furiously. Was he really in love with Hermione? I mean yes, he was protective of her... Yes, he didn't like when others touched her... So what if the thought of her and Malfoy together made him sick...so what if seeing her in bed last night in just her underwear turned him on... just because he wanted to kill Sirius just now for thinking about asking Hermione out months from now, didn't mean he was in love with her...Did it?

"So what you're saying is that because the thought of someone else touching her makes me sick to my stomach...makes me want to kill the person who touches her...the fact that I enjoy being with her and try to spend as much time as possible with her...the fact the I find her very attractive...that all means that I love her?" asked Harry

Sirius chuckled and said "that's part lust as well but add to that the fact that you two would literally die for each other... Would gladly walk through fire for each other... Understand each others needs without having to say a word... Comfort and take care of each other... that's what means that you love each other." said Sirius

Harry nodded slowly and then said "You said love each other... you think Hermione loves me?"

"Without a doubt, Harry. She told me she wanted YOU to be her first, said that she loved YOU dearly. She's been waiting for ages for you to wake up and see her as more than a best friend, I'm sure of it. Plus, think about her and Draco...what was the one thing they fought about, even that last fight...it was YOU. Draco knew that she loved you and he was scared she was going to leave him for YOU." replied Sirius

"But she was with Malfoy...she loved Malfoy. She's been a mess for months, it's only this last week or two that the old Hermione has started to come back out." said Harry confused

"Yes, she was with Draco and she did love him. It was a painful relationship for her and an even more painful breakup. Of course she would be upset but you also have to remember that she lost a baby, Harry. The depression wasn't all just about Draco. Plus she still probably doesn't know if she can have children in the future. It's a lot to have to go through." replied Sirius

"I know. I still can't believe all she's been through." Then Harry asked "but how could she love me if she was in love with Malfoy? I don't understand."

"Oh, Harry. I forget sometimes how deprived you were as a child because you turned out so well. Think about Mrs. Weasley...she has 7 children, do you think she loves them all?" asked Sirius

"Yes." replied Harry quickly

"Of course she does. There is no limit to how much someone can love, other than the limits they put on themselves. Hermione loved Draco, but not with all her heart. I'm sure at first Draco was thrilled that she loved him but then it probably became apparent that she was holding back some which I'm sure lead to many fights about you." said Sirius

"The Marking lets you know if she's scared...was she ever scared with Malfoy?" asked Harry hesitantly

Sirius sighed and said "Yes, there were a few fights when you first started back up at school that she was scared enough to unknowingly call me. They were pretty bad, but you should ask her about them, it's not my place to tell you. On another note though the Marking also lets me know if she's...ah...really happy. I found that out the hard way."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry curious

"Well, after the Marking Hermione went back to school and I didn't feel much of anything the whole year. Then over the summer, this one night, I kept getting all these strange surges of feelings. It had never happened before so I decided to check up on her and make sure she was OK. I ended up apparating into her bedroom and found her in bed with Draco. When I realized what was going on I couldn't stop laughing, but she was furious with me. After that I learned to ignore the surges, until the first time I felt her fear." finished Sirius

"Why do you think she stayed with him?" asked Harry

"I don't know, Harry. She talked to me a little about it after I stopped one of their fights...she said that everything was perfect until they got back to school, at first she just thought it was a one time thing, then when it happened again, she thought if she could just avoid the trigger then everything would be fine, but since it was you they were fighting about it was hard to avoid that...I think she must have gotten used to the fights because I stopped feeling the fear, either that or her anger started to replace it." replied Sirius

After a few minutes of silence and watching Harry thinking Sirius asked "So, tell me what you're thinking about the Marking, about your Dad, Hermione, and I?"

Harry sighed and replied "I was very uncomfortable watching it, that's for sure."

Sirius nodded and waited for Harry to continue.

"I was impressed with my Dad...he was so good to her and I'm not sure I would have been able to be such a gentleman if I was in the same situation. He seemed to truly care for her and I'm glad I got to see what kind of person he was." said Harry

"He was amazing with her that night, I don't think things would have gone as well without him." replied Sirius

"You...you were good with her too, Sirius. She was scared, I could tell and I kept wanting to scream at her Don't do this! But you were able to calm her down and made the experience ... a positive one for her." replied Harry blushing

Sirius chuckled and said "I'm sure that wasn't easy for you to watch Harry. I did my best to take good care of her. I know how much she means to you, how close you two are. Even if you two are never more than best friends there is a special bond between you."

Harry nodded and asked "Sirius, watching you two, you seemed to get pretty close over the week she was there and you seemed to have a bond when she left...Do you...Do you want to be with her in the future?"

Sirius sighed and thought for a few moments before responding "You're right we did get really close and I wasn't lying when I told her she was the first person I made love to...and I would love to be with her in the future if she'll have me..."

"But?" asked Harry

"But she's never been mine to have. Nor was she Malfoy's. We were just lucky to be able to be with her for a short time." replied Sirius

"I don't understand." said Harry

"Harry, she's always been yours. She's always put you first. She loves you. Now, don't get me wrong...If she wants to try and be together when she comes of age, I won't hesitate to agree but her heart wants you, Harry." replied Sirius

"What do I do, Sirius? I wouldn't be surprised if she never speaks to me again after what I said to her last night." said Harry running his hands through his hair as he got up to pace around the room again.

Sirius thought for a moment then replied "My guess is that she's going to need some time to forgive you. Of all the scenarios we talked about, honestly, we never expected you to ..."

"Call her a whore." finished Harry

"Well, yes. It's just so out of character for you Harry. You've always had nothing but respect and admiration for Hermione. It never crossed our mind that you would react that way. We expected anger, guilt, betrayal, but not that." said Sirius

Harry nodded and said "I really am sorry, you know. I don't know what came over me, I was so angry and I didn't think, I just said the most hurtful thing that came to mind. God, Sirius, I can still see her face in my mind...the shock and the hurt in her eyes...then her chin started to tremble and her eyes started to tear up...I feel like the world biggest prat."

Sirius got up and patted Harry on the shoulder and said "Harry, you have to apologize to her and tell her why you acted that way. She doesn't understand, hell you didn't even understand it at the time."

"Do you think she'll even let me near her to apologize?" asked Harry

"Well, there's only one way to find out. Let's go find her." replied Sirius

"OK, will you talk to her first and see if she'll see me?" asked Harry

"Sure, pup." replied Sirius then he took off a leather cuff that was on his arm and Harry saw a marking on his wrist. It was the Black Family crest and Hermione's initials were in the center of it. Sirius touched his fingers to the marking and closed his eyes concentrating for a second before saying "I think she's with Malfoy in the Slytherin dorms...come on, let's go." Then he put the cuff back on and they left the Room of Requirement.

They managed to get into the Slytherin common room without a problem and Sirius asked someone to get Malfoy.

When Malfoy came down and saw that it was Sirius and Harry he told everyone to get out. Harry thought it was a ridiculous request and was quite surprised that everyone immediately bolted from the common room. Once the last person had left Malfoy said "What the fuck are doing here Potter?"

Harry sighed, realizing that Hermione had told Malfoy what happened. Great. He replied "I came to apologize to Hermione."

"I'm not letting you anywhere near her!" yelled Malfoy

Harry raised his eyebrows at this and Sirius cut in "Look, Draco, I would like to talk to Hermione, OK?"

Draco nodded in response and said "it's the last door on the right at the top of the stairs."

They both watched Sirius leave and then before Harry knew what was happening Draco punched him hard in the face, splitting Harry's lip.

"WHAT THE FUCK MALFOY!" yelled Harry

Draco's response was to push Harry up against the nearest wall by his neck...he was squeezing Harry's neck quite hard, clearly wanting to strangle him. He then spoke very low and fiercely said "You fucking prick. How dare you call her a whore. You're a selfish fucking bastard who doesn't deserve her. You have no fucking idea what she's gone through for you. How loyal she is to you and the first test of your loyalty and you turn your back on her. I want nothing more than to snap your neck right now and I would if she hadn't made me promise to behave" at this Draco released Harry and stepped back then continued "I hope she fucking crucifies you, Potter. I hope she walks away from you and never looks back. It's what you deserve."

Harry rubbed his neck gingerly and replied "I know that's what I deserve, Malfoy, I don't need you to tell me that."

Draco looked shocked for a moment then turned away from Harry and asked "Why did you say it then?"

"I don't know. I just lost my temper and I said the most hurtful thing I could think of." replied Harry

Draco snorted in response which annoyed Harry who said "What?"

"You mean Harry Bloody Potter, the chosen one, the boy who lived, the savior of the wizarding world, isn't perfect?" Draco snapped back

Harry just rolled his eyes in response and sat down on the couch to wait for Sirius to come back down.

After a few minutes of silence Draco said "you know, we fought about you constantly when we were together. I always wished she would see you for the git you really are."

Harry just glared at Draco in response then he continued "I can't say I enjoy seeing her this upset though. It sort of takes all the fun out of knowing I was right all along."

Harry was surprised by the admission so decided to ask what he was dying to know "Why did you two fight about me?"

Draco rolled his eyes, laughed, and said "you can't be serious, Potter, isn't it obvious?"

"No." replied Harry

"It's a little hard to be in a relationship with someone who is constantly putting another man first. Everything revolved around you and there was no changing that, no matter how hard I tried, you were always more important to her. At first, over the summer, I thought it was cute how she was so worried about you all the time, but then when we got back to school and we had to hide our relationship, I started to resent it. She spent so much time with you and when I did finally get to spend time with her, you would always come up and I would lose it. There was no Hermione without Harry and it drove me nuts." said Draco

"Did you really love her?" asked Harry

"Yes... I still do." replied Draco

"I don't know why you were so bothered by me when you got to see a side of Hermione I've never seen. I was just her best friend...you were her boyfriend." said Harry

Draco snorted and said "That would be true if that's all she wanted from you."

Harry looked up at Draco questioningly and asked "What do you mean?"

"Potter, are you dense? She wants to be with you, she always has. I was just a temporary distraction." replied Draco bitterly

Harry shook his head no and replied "She loved you. I know she did."

"You're right she did, and that should have been enough for me but I was selfish and wanted more." said Draco pausing before he continued "And now our roles have switched, I'm now the friend that she comes to for comfort and your the guy who breaks her heart."

"Thanks" replied Harry bitterly

"Can't say it feels any better being the one to comfort her, even though I'm glad I'm not the one who's causing her the pain. Perhaps we should both bow out to Black. Something tells me he won't hurt her." said Draco pensively

Harry sighed and threw himself back on the couch rubbing his face with his hands, then said "Why does everything in my life have to be so damned complicated?"

Draco laughed at that and replied "Please Potter, at least you won't be murdered by your own father for being with her."

Harry laughed and said "Ah, yes, how is good old Lucius doing? Can't say I feel that bad for you though Malfoy, since I have a crazy Dark Lord and all his groupies trying to murder me every chance they get."

They both laughed for quite a while after that until Sirius came down and cleared his throat. He then asked "What's so funny?"

"Nothing" replied Draco

Harry noticed that Sirius was alone and before he could ask Sirius said "She just needs some time Harry. I'm sure in a couple of days you'll be able to talk about everything with her."

Harry nodded and stood up wanting nothing more than to go back to his room and cry. Sirius followed Harry out and Draco watched them leave, almost feeling bad for Harry, before heading back up to his room to see Hermione.

 

**Chapter 7**

The following week was one of the hardest Harry could remember. Hermione barely spoke to him and when he tried to talk to her she would walk away. It got so bad that she actually started sitting with Malfoy in classes. She barely ate in the Great Hall and when she did she would either sit with Luna at the Ravenclaw table or with Malfoy at the Slytherin table. The whole school was talking about how much time she was spending with Malfoy and rumors were flying. Ron tried unsuccessfully to talk to Hermione about Harry but she wouldn't listen. On a rare morning when Hermione was at the Gryffindor table when Harry came in she started to pack her stuff to leave when a large regal looking black owl dropped down in front of her with a letter. She pet it affectionately and took the letter. As she was reading the letter Harry sat down with Ron across from Hermione and tried to pet the owl but it snapped at him. Laughing brought Harry's attention to Malfoy who was standing behind Hermione reading over her shoulder. He said "Potter, keep your hands of my familiar."

Harry raised his eyebrows at this but didn't respond. He watched Hermione search in her bag for a quill to respond to the letter.

"You're not going to say yes, are you?" asked Draco

"As a matter of fact I am going to say yes." Replied Hermione writing her response and rolling the parchment back up to tie to the owl.

Draco grabbed the parchment from her hand and said, "I don't think so."

"Excuse me?" replied Hermione indignantly

"He's not good enough for you, Mia. He's a git and he can't be trusted." Replied Draco

"I think I can make up my own mind about who I would like to date Draco." Seethed Hermione

"Mia, you don't know the things he's said, he's only interested in one thing from you! You can't trust him!" fumed Draco

"Perhaps that's exactly why I want to date him Draco." Replied Hermione

"What? That doesn't make any sense!" Draco asked confused

"Perhaps it will be a refreshing change for me. I can't be hurt by someone I don't trust, Draco." Replied Hermione

Draco sighed and glared at Harry saying, "Potter, this is your fault." Then he continued "Mia, please, don't do this. You don't know the things I've heard about him…trust me he's not your type."

"Draco, I appreciate your concern but I'm a big girl, I think I can handle a date with Cedric. I mean he's a Hufflepuff, really." Said Hermione patting Draco's arm.

"Black won't agree to this, Mia." Said Draco desperately

"Draco, you know Sirius and I have an agreement and he doesn't have a say in the matter." Said Hermione finishing her letter to Sirius letting him know that she agreed to go on a date with Cedric. She tied the first letter to Draco's owl and sent him on his way. Then she went to get up and go to the owlery to send the second letter when Hedwig appeared in front of her, holding out her leg for the letter.

Hermione gasped in surprise and looked at Harry questioningly. He reached out and stroked Hedwig affectionately and said "Go ahead, Hermione, she clearly wants to take the letter for you."

Hermione bit her lip and thought for a moment but then Hedwig hooted impatiently at her and she smiled and gave her the letter, giving her some food and thanking her. Malfoy was scowling the whole time. When Hedwig had left, Harry tentatively tried to talk to Hermione again and said "Hermione, I can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with Malfoy about Diggory. I heard him say some pretty disgusting things and I don't want you to get hurt."

Hermione burst out laughing and said, "That's rich coming from you Harry. From the both of you, really." Then she became quite fierce and said "You're both filthy hypocrites, having both hurt me more than I even thought was possible. Now listen to me and listen good because I am not going to discuss this again with either of you, the two of you have no say whatsoever in who I decide to date and you'd do well to remember that." And she got up and stormed away.

"Well that went well," snorted Ron.

Draco sat down and Harry looked at him questioningly. "What the hell are we going to do Potter?"

"We?" asked Harry

"Yes, we. Potter, are you dense? She just agreed to go on a date with Diggory, who I've heard is into some dark shit ever since he almost died after the Triwizard tournament. I'm not letting him touch her, Potter. So, are you in or not?" asked Draco

"I don't know Malfoy. You heard Hermione; she wants us to stay out of this…" said Harry

"Oh, so you would rather wait until after he rapes her then to do something?" asked Draco incredulously

"What? No! What do you propose we do?" asked Harry

"It's simple really. You're going to write Sirius and find out all the details. Then we're going to have a little talk with Diggory before the date and we'll follow them while they're on the date." Replied Malfoy smirking.

"Fine." Replied Harry then he asked "Is Hermione going out tomorrow night with you guys to the Club?"

"Yes." Said Draco simply

Harry nodded and decided tomorrow night he would wait up for Hermione and confront her when she got back about what was going on with them. He couldn't stand her being so cold towards him anymore it was killing him.

The next day was the same as all the others that week and Hermione avoided Harry yet again. He hung out with Ron, Seamus and Dean in the common room until late into the night when they went off to bed. He then made his way up to Hermione's room to wait for her to return. She had avoided coming through the common room all week so he wasn't going to chance missing her tonight. Her dorm rooms were out and the room was empty so he got ready for bed and read while he waited for her. He must have dozed off at some point because he was awoken when he heard a loud crash and a girl giggling. He looked to what time it was and saw that it was nearly 3 AM. He got up to go see what the commotion was and nearly walked into Malfoy carrying Hermione into the room. She was giggling uncontrollably and when she saw Harry she said, "Oooh, it's just like my dream!"

Harry raised his eyebrows at her and while Malfoy rolled his and set her down in the room. She nearly toppled over and giggled some more.

"How much did she drink?" asked Harry incredulously

"Too much, Potter. Every time I took one away from her two would appear to replace it!" huffed Draco then he continued, "I couldn't get blokes to stop buying her drinks! I think some were hoping to get her drunk enough so that she would go home with them but I quickly figured out that's what they were trying to do and I didn't let her out of my sight. My date was pissed at me, that's for sure."

At this point Hermione giggled and both turned to look at her to see that she had decided to take off her short white dress and was now standing only in her very nice lacy white bra and underwear with gold high heels. Both Draco and Harry were speechless. She came closer to them, and surprisingly didn't sway or fall. She positioned herself between the two, placing one hand on each of their chests and said, "Do you think you two could agree to share for the night?" Both of their jaws hit the floor in shock and she giggled at the response.

At almost the exact same moment Draco and Harry took a step away from Hermione, afraid of what they might do. Harry looked to Draco and said, "she needs a sobering potion, and do you have any?" Draco nodded and said, "I'll go get one and bring it back." And then he turned to leave but Harry yelled desperately, "Wait, you can't leave me alone with her!"

Draco chuckled and said "I'll only be a few minutes, Potter. Surely the Chosen One can handle a drunk witch…"

"Bloody Hell!" griped Harry running his hands through his hair. He could do this, it was just Hermione. He turned to see what she was doing and found her extremely close to him. He sucked in a breath in surprise.

"Harrrrrrry" she purred

He gulped and took a step backwards and squeaked out "yes, Hermione?"

"Harry, I missed you this week." She whispered huskily advancing on him while he continued to step backwards…

"I…I…missed you too Hermione." Stammered Harry

"Do you want to know how much I missed you Harry?" she asked quietly while Harry backed into the wall. She was so close that he was holding his breath to keep some semblance of space between them but it wasn't working because virtually every part of their bodies were touching.

Harry shook his head No, he didn't want to know, not like this. She was pulling his shirt off …SHIT…how was he going to get out of…she was drunk, she was his best friend. WHERE IS MALFOY his mind screamed!

And then she kissed him and he tried to stop her but she was determined and he quickly found himself kissing her back. It was amazing, that's the only way he could describe it and he found himself thoroughly enjoying it. After a few minutes they broke apart gasping for air, and Hermione rested her forehead against Harry's and whispered, "Fuck."

Harry kissed her forehead and panted "yeah" in response.

A minute later Draco appeared with the sobering potion. He cleared his throat to get their attention and raised his eyebrow at Harry questioningly, but when Hermione saw him she rounded on him.

"So baby, do you think you can share?" she purred

Draco's eyes opened wide and Harry chuckled in the background as Hermione advanced on Malfoy and pushed him up against the opposite wall from where Harry was just pinned.

"Mia…you…need to take this potion." Stammered Draco, holding up the sobering potion

"I don't want to baby," pouted Hermione while she started to unbutton his shirt

"Mia…stop…you don't know what you're doing." Draco whispered desperately as she pulled his shirt off.

"Oh but I do, baby… I want both of you." Replied Hermione huskily

Draco looked to Harry and pleaded, "Potter, you're supposed to be a Gryffindor DAMNIT! DO SOMETHING!"

Harry was in shock. He had never seen Hermione like this and not even in his wildest dreams did he imagine she ever would be like this. His inner Slytherin was fighting with his Gryffindor nature but he shook his head when Malfoy pleaded with him and pushed his teenage hormones aside. He advanced on Hermione and pulled her away from Malfoy and dragged her over to the bed, setting her down not so gently. She made a sexy sort of growling noise and he had to clench his jaw and turn away from her so that he didn't lose his resolve. He grabbed the potion from Malfoy and held it out for Hermione and demanded, "Drink."

She crossed her arms and shook her head No

"Hermione, if I have to pour this down your throat I will, but I'd rather you drank it on your own." Growled Harry

She huffed and said, "What do I get if I drink it?"

Harry groaned while Draco laughed. Finally Harry responded "Anything you want Hermione, just please drink it!"

"Anything at all?" asked Hermione in a silky voice

Draco laughed again and said "you walked right into that one Potter."

Harry sighed and said "Yes, Hermione, anything you want."

She smirked and said, "Ok, if I drink this I want the two of you."

Harry gulped and said "Fine, but I'm sure you'll change your mind after you drink that. Now Drink!"

She smiled and drank the potion, coughing and grimacing afterward.

Harry noticed that he wasn't the only one to let out a sigh of relief as he noticed Draco come closer. They were both a safe distance away but still standing before her in front of the bed waiting for her to look up.

When she did she looked confused and shook her head then looked at them again and then down at herself and said, "why are we all half dressed?"

Harry sighed in relief and Draco laughed saying "Because Love, you were trying to seduce the both of us."

"WHAT!" shrieked Hermione then she continued "No, I wasn't…. was I?"

They both nodded in reply

Hermione groaned and put her face in her hands saying "Oh god, how embarrassing."

"Does this mean that you don't want to collect your reward for drinking the potion?" asked Draco

Hermione looked up in confusion and said, "What are you talking about?"

Harry cut in and said "Malfoy, drop it, she was drunk."

Draco chuckled and said "Mia, you wouldn't drink the sobering potion unless we promised you a reward."

"I don't want to know, do I?" she asked looking at Harry who shook his head No.

Draco huffed and said, "You two are no fun, honestly." Then he continued "well, if it's OK with you love, I'm going to put my shirt back on and go to sleep."

Hermione blushed and nodded. As Draco was walking out of the room she said "Draco…. thanks for taking care of me tonight."

"Always will." Replied Draco

She smiled and looked down at herself, realizing again that she was only in a bra and underwear. She blushed realizing that Harry was in the room with her and got up to find some pajamas. Only then did she realize she was still wearing her heels. Frowning, she bent down to take them off and she heard Harry gasp from behind her. She turned to see what the problem was and saw that he had turned away from her. He was very close to her and when she bent over well, he got a real close view. She cursed herself mentally for drinking so much. The sobering potion helped but her head was still cloudy. She flung her shoes across the room, grabbed some clothes and went to change in the bathroom.

When Harry heard the door close, he breathed a sigh of relief, again. What a night. Perhaps it wasn't such a great idea to wait for Hermione in her room. She was going to be furious when she remembers the kiss. He best get on her good side now before she remembers…He pulled his shirt back on and sat down on the bed waiting for Hermione to come out of the bathroom.

About 15 minutes later Hermione emerged with a slight blush on her face. She was more covered now in a matching light blue tank top and a pair of shorts but she still looked gorgeous as far as Harry was concerned.

Harry got up and motioned for her to sit down on the bed. She smiled shyly at him and did. Just as she opened her mouth to say something Harry cut her off and said "Hermione, please, I need to say something." She nodded in response and Harry continued, "Hermione, I'm so sorry for what I said to you last week. It was inexcusable and I still can't believe I said that to you." Then Harry dropped to his knees in front of Hermione and grabbed her hands "This has been one of the worst weeks I have ever had and you should know that means something. I need you Hermione, more than I ever realized. Please, Please, Please forgive me." Finished Harry desperately.

Hermione had tears running down her face and she couldn't speak she was so choked up by Harry's apology but she smiled and nodded and pulled Harry up for a hug which he happily accepted sighing a "thank you" into her hair. After a minute he pulled away and said "I should let you get some sleep now" and he got up but Hermione grabbed his hand and said "No, stay." Harry raised his eyebrow at her and said "Are you still drunk?"

"No. Well, not really. My heads a little cloudy but please, stay. You can sleep here. I really missed you this week, Harry." Replied Hermione blushing.

Harry chuckled and she looked up at him questioningly so he replied, "you may have mentioned that earlier."

He got back on the bed and leaned up against the headboard while Hermione curled up against him smiling. After a few minutes of silence Hermione quietly asked, "Harry, what happened before I took the sobering potion?"

Harry sighed and said "Hermione, you were drunk, can't we just leave it at that?"

"Was it that bad?" asked Hermione

"No! Not at all, but I know you will be embarrassed and I don't want you to be because I knew you were drunk so it's not a big deal." Replied Harry

"Well, if it's not a big deal and we both know I was drunk, then just tell me." Said Hermione smirking

"Hermione…"

"Harry if you don't tell me, Draco will, so you mine as well just tell me." Replied Hermione

"Fine. What do you want to know…" asked Harry

Hermione squealed in delight and said, "Why did you both have your shirts off?"

"Because you took them off." Smirked Harry

"I did? Really?" Asked Hermione

Harry just nodded in response

"How?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at her and she clarified "I mean, I can't see you both just standing there next to each other letting me take off your shirts, how did it happen?"

"Oh. Well, Malfoy went to go get the sobering potion and you sort of…pushedme...againstthewall...andripped...myshirtoff and then when Malfoy came back you did the same to him." Said Harry quickly

Hermione thought about what he said for a minute trying to figure it out because he said it so fast so she asked "Did you say I pushed you against the wall and ripped your shirt off?"

Harry nodded

"And then I did the same thing to Draco when he came back with the potion…. with you in the room?"

Harry nodded again

Hermione groaned and covered her face with her hands in embarrassment again but Harry pulled her hands away and said, "don't worry about it. We both knew you were drunk."

She smiled a little and then asked, "How did I end up undressed?"

"Oh, that was when you first got back. I was giving Malfoy a hard time about how drunk you were and while we were arguing you decided to undress. We were quite shocked to turn around and see you in your underwear." Replied Harry chuckling

"Alright, so the first thing I did was take off my clothes, then Draco went to get the potion, and I pushed you against the wall and ripped off your shirt and when Draco came back I did the same to him. Is that all that happened?" asked Hermione

"Um…."

"Harry, what else happened?" asked Hermione warily

"Um...it…um…. I mean…we…um…."

"Harry, you're not making any sense!" demanded Hermione hitting him on the chest

Harry sighed and quickly finished "kissed"

"Who kissed? Draco and I?" Hermione asked frowning

Harry shook his head no and her eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth several times but no sound came out. Finally she squeaked out "You and I kissed?"

Harry nodded yes and she gasped and Harry quickly tried to soothe her by saying "it's fine, Hermione. I know you were drunk and you wouldn't normally want to kiss me."

Hermione frowned at this and said "but I was drunk!"

This response confused Harry... didn't he just say that? But before he could reply she continued, "I can't believe I did that! And I was drunk! That was so so SO very STUPID of me!" and she whacked the side of the bed in frustration.

"Hermione?"

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry." Replied Hermione

"It's fine, really."

"No, it's not! We kissed and I don't even remember it!" yelled Hermione obviously upset.

"Are you upset that we kissed? Or that you don't remember it?" asked Harry smirking

Hermione blushed in response and looked away

Interesting, thought Harry. His inner Slytherin was still angry about earlier and before he had a chance to control himself he had grabbed Hermione, pulled her closer to him and kissed her. She squeaked in surprise but after a minute she relaxed and started to kiss him back. It was even better than before and the kiss grew passionate very quickly. Finally breaking for air, Harry whispered, "now you'll remember."

Hermione smiled and said, "I don't know how I could forget that."

They stayed in each other's arms for several minutes just looking at each other before Hermione started "Harry…"

"No, Hermione. Don't think so much. Just let it be…for tonight at least." Said Harry

She nodded in response and then decided to ask what she was dying to know, "So, what was my reward for drinking the potion?"

Harry chuckled and asked, "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes!" replied Hermione enthusiastically

"Ok, fine. Me and Malfoy." Replied Harry

"What about you and Draco?" asked Hermione confused

Harry laughed and said "No, Hermione, that's what you asked for me and Malfoy. As in the both of us…together…with you. That's what you wanted."

"Oh, god. I'm never drinking again!" squeaked Hermione and she buried her head in Harry's chest.

He laughed some more and hugged her tighter. After a minute he said, "Don't say that, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. You were sexy…. and aggressive and you took what you wanted. And I swear I think you even scared Malfoy a little."

Hermione chuckled and said, "well, he always did say I was a true Gryffindor."

"How do you mean?" asked Harry

Hermione blushed profusely and stammered, "well…you know... Gryffindor…Lioness…Cat…kitten…sex."

Harry smirked and then said, "so what you're saying is that you're a Lioness in bed?"

Hermione blushed even more but smartly replied, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Too true, Hermione. Too true." Replied Harry quietly while looking into her eyes. They seemed to close the space between them quickly and spent quite a while snogging. Finally, Harry had to stop before things got out of hand and when they broke apart he noticed the sun was coming up. He said, "I think we better get some sleep Hermione while we still can."

Hermione frowned but reluctantly agreed. She curled up in Harry's arms and pulled the blankets up over them, smiling as she fell asleep with her head on Harry's chest.

Harry felt like he was in heaven as he drifted off to sleep with Hermione in his arms. He had really missed her this past week and he was so happy to have her back, never mind how ecstatic he was to be able to explore this new side of her.

 

**Chapter 8**

Harry and Hermione slept through breakfast that morning but managed to get up in time for lunch. Still tired and groggy they sat down at the Gryffindor table next to each other near Ron and Ginny. Ginny immediately started teasing Hermione about how much she had drunk the night before. Harry chuckled quietly and Hermione rolled her eyes at the both of them. Then she felt someone sit down next to her and turned to see Draco smiling at her.

"Hello, love, I see you decided to finally join the rest of us." Draco said reaching over Hermione and taking a biscuit off of Harry's plate.

"Malfoy!" griped Harry trying to swat his hand away

"Oh, sorry, you don't mind sharing, do you Potter?" smirked Draco

Hermione started choking on her food when she heard this and Harry looked amused.

Smiling, Harry replied, "Of course not, Malfoy, I'd be happy to share with you."

"Harry!" squeaked Hermione

"What Hermione? I don't mind sharing, there's plenty to go around." Replied Harry smirking.

"Yeah, Mia, he doesn't mind. In fact, Potter, I'll even share my dinner tonight with you, if you want." Replied Draco

At this point Hermione was a brilliant shade of red, she was so embarrassed by all this innuendo, she was sure she was going to die of embarrassment.

"Are you both mental? You hate each other!" said Ron completely shocked

"Small detail, Weasley. I mean with biscuits this good, we would be crazy not to share!" replied Draco smirking

Hermione couldn't take anymore and got up in a huff and bolted from the table, leaving a chuckling Harry and Draco behind.

Draco turned to Harry and said, "I'm surprised you played along, Potter. I was expecting you to throw a fit."

"Well, I talked to her about it this morning and she was pretty embarrassed, so I thought some teasing would be good for her. After all, it's not everyday that Hermione does something so out of character like that." Replied Harry smiling

"Will someone tell me what's going on?" said Ron completely lost

Ginny spoke up and said, "Hermione drank way too much last night and I take it she said or did some embarrassing things. Am I correct?"

Both Harry and Draco nodded in response

"What did she do?" asked Ron

Harry and Draco looked at each other for a minute and then said "nothing" together.

Ron looked accusingly at Harry and so he clarified, "she just drank too much and she was really funny. When Draco brought her back she wouldn't let him leave and Draco and I had to spend some awkward time together with her. It wasn't a big deal, but you know Hermione, she tries to be so perfect. We were just giving her a hard time is all."

"Oh, that's it? What's she so worked up about then, everyone drinks too much once in a while." Said Ron going back to his food.

Ginny eyed them both letting them know she didn't buy that answer. Harry looked down at his food and started to eat again and Draco got up and went back to the Slytherin table.

Harry found Hermione in the library a little while later. He gave her a quick kiss and sat down to do his homework with her. "Hermione, you know we were only teasing, right?"

She sighed and said, "yes, I know. I was just embarrassed. Some Gryffindor I am, I ran away."

Harry leaned over and kissed her neck and she shivered in response. He smirked and continued for a few minutes until Hermione moved to kiss him passionately. They broke apart when they needed to breathe and Hermione blushed and said, "Harry we have to finish our homework."

Harry nodded in response and started to do his homework but every few minutes he would play footsies with her under the table, making her smile.

When they finally finished all their homework and it was nearly the end of dinner, they got up to pack their stuff and go. Hermione became quite dizzy and nearly toppled over, with Harry grabbing her to steady her before she fell.

"Are you alright?" asked Harry concerned

Hermione shook her head and said, "yeah, I think so. I don't know what happened. I've felt kind of weird all day. I hope I'm not getting sick, we have so much work to do before the holidays!"

Harry laughed and said, "let's get you some dinner, maybe you'll feel better afterwards. You didn't really eat much at lunch and you skipped breakfast."

"You're right Harry, that must be what's wrong." Said Hermione

But unfortunately, Harry wasn't right. Hermione was feeling steadily worse over the next couple of hours so she went to bed early. In the morning Harry got ready and was waiting downstairs in the common room for her, as she wouldn't let him sleep with her, afraid he would get sick. When the last of her dorm mates came down, Harry asked, "Is Hermione coming down?"

Lavender replied, "we couldn't get her up, she kept saying she was tired and would fall right back to sleep. Maybe you can wake her. She's the only one left up there so you can go on ahead."

Harry frowned and made his way upstairs to see what was going on. When he got to Hermione, she was still sound asleep. It took him several minutes before he was finally able to wake her, which made him very concerned. "Hermione, are you feeling OK?"

"Yeah…I'm just tired," replied Hermione yawning

"Do you want me to take notes for you today and you can get some rest?" asked Harry

"No, no, it's OK. I'm sure I'll be fine once I get going." Said Hermione getting out of bed. She was momentarily dizzy and unsteady but she headed to the bathroom saying, "just give me five minutes."

Harry waited and five minutes later Hermione was ready to head to breakfast. They walked to the Great Hall and he noticed she kept shaking her head so he asked, "are you OK?"

"Yeah, I just feel funny. I must be coming down with something." Replied Hermione

"Maybe we should go see Madam Pomfrey?" said Harry concerned

"There's no time and I don't want to miss classes." Replied Hermione and then seeing Harry frowning she added, "I promise I will go after classes if I'm still not feeling well, OK?"

Harry nodded reluctantly and they sat down for a quick breakfast before heading to classes. Hermione seemed to be doing all right during the morning classes and lunch until she got to Potions (of course it was a double lesson). When she entered the classroom she was very pale and she hurried to her seat afraid she was going to pass out. Professor Snape noticed this and made his way over to her…

"Miss Granger, are you feeling alright?" asked Prof. Snape

Hermione nodded in response and Prof. Snape raised his eyebrows and said, "you don't look well, Miss Granger, perhaps you should go visit Madam Pomfrey."

Hermione sighed and replied, "I will, I promise, right after class."

He reluctantly nodded and returned to his desk, while Draco, Harry, and Ron all eyed Hermione warily. Hermione made it through about half the class before she really felt like she needed to go see Madam Pomfrey. However, she had waited so long, she wasn't sure she would be able to make it to the hospital wing. They were in the middle of making the potion Snape had assigned so everyone was talking and moving around. She turned to Harry and said, "Harry, I'm really not feeling well. I think I need to go see Madam Pomfrey now."

Harry looked to her concerned as she tried to get up out of her chair. She managed to get to her feet with Harry's help. Professor Snape seemed to have noticed what was going on because he was making his way over to them, which caught Draco's eye, so he turned to see what was going on. Suddenly, Hermione collapsed but at the same time the whole room seemed to explode around them, like there was a surge in magical energy. Everyone screamed and there was broken glass and potions everywhere. Most people had dropped to the floor instinctively. There was a lot of chaos but above it all you could hear Harry yelling, "Hermione!" over and over again. He was on the floor holding her in his lap but she was unconscious. Ron was trying to shake her awake until Prof. Snape came over. He immediately checked her pulse and ran his wand over her. He apparently didn't like what he found because he grabbed Hermione out of Harry's lap and said to Harry quickly, "go to Madam Pomfrey and tell her I'm taking Miss Granger to St. Mungo's. Tell her to meet me there." And then he was gone.

Harry was so confused that he sat there on the floor blinking at the spot where Prof. Snape was just standing. Draco and Ron started yelling at him to get up. He finally did and the three of them ran to tell Madam Pomfrey what happened. When they got there they were all yelling at her to go to St. Mungo's and it took her a couple of minutes to figure out what happened. She tried to get the three boys to stay behind but there was no way they were going to do that. So she gave up and just told them to stay out of the way, Flooing them all to St. Mungo's. They made their way through the hospital to where the emergency cases came in and found Prof. Snape. He was standing outside a room that was bustling with activity.

He filled Madam Pomfrey in on why he brought Hermione in, while the boys sat down on a nearby bench…

"I brought Miss Granger in because I couldn't find a pulse on her and when I checked her magically there was nothing as well. The reactions not usually this severe, I don't understand. She should have just gotten sick…" said Prof. Snape

"It is quite a strong reaction, I should go in and let them know the background and see if I can help." Replied Madam Pomfrey and then she went in

Harry spoke up and said, "what happened to her? What is she having a reaction to?"

"While Miss Granger's body may have recovered from the miscarriage, her magic hasn't. Because of the circumstances that lead to her miscarriage, it was unknown if she would fully recover and be able to have children in the future. Usually when a witch's magic recovers they get sick for a few days, but I've never seen such a strong reaction." Replied Prof. Snape

"So this is because of what I did?" said Draco

Prof. Snape looked at Draco for a moment before nodding

"Does this mean that she will be able to have children?" asked Draco

"Perhaps…but her heart stopped so we need to worry about that right now." Replied Prof. Snape

In response to hearing this, Draco buried his head in his hands, while Ron cursed and Harry stood completely frozen.

Suddenly they all heard the distinctive crack of apparation nearby. There was a commotion in the room and many people were all yelling at the same time. Alarms were going off and many people were running towards the room. There seemed to be not just hospital personnel running towards the room but also what looked like security and then aurors started apparating in as well. It was enough to make them all concerned and they all stood up waiting to see what was going on.

As the witches and wizards got to the room, they started trying to pull someone out of it…he was yelling and trying to throw them. Finally, they were all able to see and hear who it was…Sirius.

As four wizards were dragging him out of the room he was screaming, "YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!"… "BRING HER BACK!"… "LET ME GO!"

When they finally got outside the room, the healers inside closed the doors again, and the four wizards let Sirius go but they blocked the doors so that he couldn't get in. They looked sympathetically at Sirius as he tried to get by them, finally collapsing to the floor and sobbing.

Prof. Snape was looking down at Sirius curiously as if he was trying to figure out something.

Finally, Harry couldn't take it anymore and walked cautiously up to Sirius and touched his shoulder and asked, "Sirius, what's going on?"

Sirius just sobbed more and responded incoherently.

At this point Prof. Dumbledore, Prof. McGonagall and Lupin showed up to see what was going on. Prof. Snape had notified the two professors but not Lupin so he asked, "Lupin, what are you doing here?"

Remus raised his eyebrow at Snape and said, "I was with Sirius at Grimmauld Place when he suddenly collapsed. He was out for a couple of minutes and when he woke up he wasn't making any sense. He kept saying something was wrong, he couldn't feel her anymore, then he was silent for a few minutes before shouting 'St. Mungo's' and then he apparated away. I'm still not really sure what's going on…would someone care to fill me in?"

Harry was getting very anxious. He looked towards Draco to see that he still had his head in his hands and was now silently crying. He was getting more and more concerned the more he heard of what Prof. Snape was telling everyone and he didn't realize his magic was reacting strongly to his emotions. The four wizards blocking the room seemed wary when they realized Harry Potter was waiting to see what was happening and they could tell he wasn't going to wait much longer. There was a fast wind whipping through the hall, the lights were starting to flicker and things were falling down off the wall. Prof. Dumbledore tried to soothe Harry down by reaching out to him but he was surprised to find that he couldn't touch Harry. There seemed to be a magical bubble around him that only let you get within a couple of inches of him. Prof. Dumbledore then tried to get Sirius to speak to Harry but Sirius was too upset to notice what was going on.

Just then the doors opened and one of the healers yelled out "Is there a Mr. Black here?"

Sirius jumped up and said, "yes, me."

The healer seemed to consider him for a second and said quickly, "I apologize Mr. Black, I didn't realize at the time who you were. I'm sorry, but the news isn't good. We've tried all the usual methods to bring Miss Granger back but haven't been able to. We just realized that you two are bonded and there is an old spell that may work, would you be willing to try it?"

"Yes, please, try it." Begged Sirius

"OK. There's no guarantee that it will work and it may be painful for you." Said the healer questioningly

"I don't care, just try it." Sirius said desperately

"Ok, come in and we'll set up." Said the healer closing the doors behind him so that everyone in the hallway was left with a thousand questions.

"Did the healer just say that they were bonded?" asked Remus looking around. He noticed that Harry, Ron, and Draco were all looking away from him. The others noticed this as well.

Harry decided he had enough waiting and walked towards the room and the four wizards guarding it. All he had to do was look at them and they all moved aside to let him in. Whatever they saw in his eyes scared them and they didn't want to get in his way. Draco and Ron quickly followed behind and Prof. Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore went in as well.

There were two beds in the room side by side. Hermione was stripped down to her undergarments, with Sirius lying next to her. He had taken his shirt off and was holding Hermione's hand, while the healers were applying what looked like muggle wires to both of their chests. When they were done, they all stepped away and one healer began the spell that he hoped would work. It was a complicated spell and seemed to need a fair amount of power.

After a few minutes Sirius started screaming through his clenched jaw and was writhing on the bed. One of the healers went over to check some vitals on him, while another went over to check the vitals on Hermione. Harry thought Sirius looked like he was being tortured, and it seemed like the spell went on forever, but finally Hermione gasped and her eyes shot open. She was having a hard time catching her breath and she was shaking uncontrollably, so a few healers rushed to her side to treat her. The healer finished the spell and went to check on Sirius since there were several healers helping Hermione.

After another minute Harry decided that no one even noticed he was there so he spoke up loudly and asked, "Would someone tell me if they are going to be alright!"

Several healers jumped, while others gasped when they realized who was standing in the room. There was only silence until Hermione whispered, "Harry?" That was all he needed to hear and he was quickly at her side holding her other hand. He kissed her forehead and whispered sweet nothings in her ear.

Sirius then seemed to become conscious, he groaned loudly and said, "Did it work?"

"Yes, it did. How are you feeling?" asked the Healer

"Like I was tortured." Replied Sirius. He then squeezed Hermione's hand and when she squeezed back, he smiled and passed out again.

The healer then walked over to Hermione and said, "It's nice to have you back Miss Granger. You'll have to stay in the hospital for a day or two while we run some tests to make sure you're going to be all right. Mr. Black will also need to stay in the hospital for a day or two so that we can treat him for his exhaustion and any pain that he may be in. Do you have any questions?"

Hermione asked, "What happened to me?"

"From what I've been told by your Professor and Madam Pomfrey, it seems that your magic has fully recovered from your recent miscarriage. The reactions aren't usually so strong though. Usually a witch just gets sick for a few days." Said the Healer

Madam Pomfrey then came over and brought a gown for Hermione to cover herself up with and she reluctantly let go of Sirius hand to put it on. She also gave her several blankets as she was still shivering and Hermione used one to cover Sirius up as well.

"Miss Granger, I was only able to bring you back due to your bond with Mr. Black. He saved your life. I have to say that I was quite surprised to find that you were marked and bonded. I don't see that often. " the healer then paused for a moment before continuing "I will have to report this though, as it's illegal to bond a witch. Especially since you are Muggleborn and underage."

"I understand. When you contact the Aurors, could you request Auror Tonks? I'm just not that comfortable discussing this with strangers…" replied Hermione.

"I can do that. Now, get some rest. We will move you and Mr. Black shortly to another ward. I will keep you together though." Said the healer smiling and then he left the room.

Draco and Ron moved next to Harry by the bed while Professor Dumbledore went to the door and cast several spells to ensure privacy. He then turned back to Hermione and said, "Miss Granger, I take it this is what you did last year?"

"Yes, sir." Replied Hermione

Professor Dumbledore sighed and nodded.

"Albus, are you saying you allowed this to happen? You allowed Mr. Black to mark her? She's underage! Have you lost your mind?" yelled Prof. McGonagall

"NO, Professor. He didn't know. Sirius and I didn't tell anyone. He only knew that I wanted to go back in time to do something to help Harry. He didn't know what we were going to do, I swear!" said Hermione quickly.

"How does letting Black violate you help Potter?" snapped Professor Snape

"HE DID NOT VIOLATE ME!" yelled Hermione

Snape snorted in response

"Miss Granger, please explain, as I am unsure how this ritual helped Mr. Potter as well." Said Prof. McGonagall sternly

Hermione nodded and proceeded to tell the professors how marking Hermione provided a way to find Harry if they were ever taken together by Voldermort. She also gave them the edited version of what happened the week she went back in time.

"Well, that explains why I woke up one day last year with all these new memories of you and Sirius. I thought they were just really vivid dreams and I was thoroughly confused as to why I was dreaming about you being in school with us." Said Remus.

"Miss Granger, that ritual is very dark. If I remember correctly it also requires a third person as a bonder…." Said Prof. Snape

"Yes, it does. I revised the spell slightly though and switched the rights of the bonder and the marker. This made it safer for me." Replied Hermione

"If Lupin didn't know that means he wasn't your bonder…it was Potter, wasn't it?" asked Snape practically spitting the word Potter out.

"It was James, yes." Said Hermione quietly

"Unbelievable. Why would you do something so stupid, Miss Granger?" sneered Snape

"It was not stupid!" said Hermione

Professor Dumbledore stepped in before Snape could retort and said, "There is nothing we can do about it now, Severus. What's done is done. I think Miss Granger knows we would have prevented her from doing this had we known. "

Hermione looked down at his words feeling bad for deceiving them. Harry seemed to realize this and squeezed her hand in support.

The Professors then decided they needed to be getting back to Hogwarts now that they knew Hermione was going to be OK. Ron was going to go back as well but Harry and surprisingly Draco refused to leave Hermione's side. So Lupin said he would stay with them and bring them both back to Hogwarts later. The professors reluctantly agreed and left.

Hermione was a little wary of have all three of her boys with her at the same time. But she knew that Remus was there to help if Harry and Draco tried to kill each other, and Sirius was still unconscious…so she decided to try and get some rest.

 

**Chapter 9**

Hermione and Sirius were moved to another room and eventually it was time for everyone to leave. Draco hugged Hermione and then Harry came up and kissed on the forehead. AS they were walking out of the room Harry turned around and came back to kiss Hermione fully on the lips, surprising everyone in the room. He pulled away after a minute and said; "I'm going to miss you in my bed tonight." Hermione blushed fiercely and Harry chuckled turning and leaving the room, closing the door behind him. This left Hermione and Sirius with quite an awkward silence…

"So…you and Harry?" asked Sirius

Hermione nodded but said nothing

"When did this happen?" asked Sirius

"Just a couple of days ago…" replied Hermione quietly not looking at him

Sirius chuckled and said, "well, it certainly took you two long enough."

Hermione looked up surprised and said, "you're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad, Hermione. It's so clear that you've wanted to be with him for ages now. I want you to be happy. I want Harry to be happy. If you can be happy together, all the better." Replied Sirius

"Sirius…it's just that I'm so close… to being 17…. I mean I've been counting the time down, waiting. It's only a few months away. I didn't expect this to happen. It just did. I'm so confused." Said Hermione completely flustered.

Sirius laughed again and said, "What's there to be confused about. You like Harry. Harry likes you. End of story. Be happy together."

Hermione looked up at him shyly and bit her lip before saying, "but Harry's not the only one that I have feelings for."

Sirius looked into her eyes for several minutes before saying, "Go on."

"Well, there are the feelings I have for that handsome devil I went back in time to be with." Replied Hermione smirking

Sirius nodded, "and?"

Hermione sighed and replied, "And I still have feelings for Draco."

Sirius frowned but nodded again.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Hermione spoke up, asking, "so what do I do Sirius? I'm pretty sure Harry isn't going to be OK with me dating two other guys along with him."

Sirius smiled thinking about that, and then said, "the way I see it, and you still have several months before you turn 17, right?"

"Yes."

"And you've already dated Draco."

"Yes."

"So, you should date Harry for a while and see what happens. I mean who knows maybe you're feelings for Harry will drown out any feelings you have for the other two…" finished Sirius.

"And if they don't?" asked Hermione hesitantly

Sirius sighed and said, "then you'll just have to convince him to share you."

She laughed at that response for several minutes until Sirius cleared his throat getting her attention.

"Hermione, you know the chances of everyone surviving this war are pretty slim…"

"Sirius, please don't say that," Replied Hermione quickly

"Hermione, you know that I will do everything I can to protect both you and Harry…but we may not all survive." Replied Sirius solemnly.

Hermione got out of bed in response to this and walked over to Sirius' bed and gave him a hug. He quickly wrapped his arms around her hugging her back. They stayed like that for several minutes before they slowly broke apart and Hermione headed back to her bed wiping stray tears from her face. They spent the next couple days recovering and chatting about all sorts of things. Finally, they were discharged and Harry was there to bring her back to Hogwarts.

Harry helped Hermione get settled back in her room and was sitting on the bed trying to think of the best way to talk about what happened with them when Hermione interrupted him and said softly, "Harry, we haven't really talked about what happened with us…or if there even is an us."

Harry smiled and said relieved, "thank Merlin you brought it up Hermione, I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to bring it up."

She laughed at his response and said, "so?"

He ran his hands through his hair and said, "So, I like you…a lot. And I want to spend time with you but as more than my best friend."

She smiled in response and walked over and kissed him gently then said, "me too."

Harry beamed and said, "Ok, then. I guess that means we're dating…so I'm going to take you on a date this Saturday night. Don't make plans."

"What are we going to do?" asked Hermione

"I'm not telling you, it's a surprise," Replied Harry knowing that would drive her crazy

"Harrrrry! That's not fair, how am I supposed to know what to wear if I don't know where we are going?" whined Hermione

"OK, I guess I can help you there…dress casual, in jeans or something." Replied Harry smirking.

Hermione wacked him on the arm lightly and he grabbed her and turned them over on the bed so that she was pinned beneath him. They were both breathing heavily and when he spoke he hardly recognized his voice it was so husky, "Hermione…"

Her response was to kiss him passionately which he was not going to complain about. They continued for quite a while, allowing their hands to explore each other over their clothes. Harry found himself involuntarily grinding his hips against her and he had to force himself to pull away from her. They gazed at each other panting and could see the desire in each other's eyes, but it was too soon. They needed to take things slow.

So Harry reluctantly sat up and straightened his clothes out then reached for Hermione and pulled her up to a sitting position as well and said, "Do you want to hang out in the common room for a little bit, so you can catch up with Ron and Ginny?"

She smiled and said, "I think that's a good idea." She then stood and fixed her clothes as well before heading down the stairs with Harry following behind her.

The following week flew by and all of Hogwarts was gossiping about the new couple. They were nauseatingly cute together, constantly holding hands and exchanging kisses when they thought no one was looking. They were even more inseparable than usual and everyone seemed to notice. They seemed to have developed a routine: wake up, go to classes, snog in one of their bedrooms, head to the library, snog in the library, spend time in the common room, snog in one of their bedrooms, then go to sleep.

But Harry was busy after Hermione went to sleep trying to get their date planned for that weekend. He would spend each night asking the Room of Requirement for what he wanted, and each time it would get closer. On Friday night he got it perfect! He was so excited that he couldn't wipe the smile from his face and he was just glad that not that many people were awake to see it because he didn't want to know what they would think.

Finally, Saturday came and Harry told Hermione they would leave at 8PM so they had plenty of time to catch up on homework and just enjoy a lazy day, with lots of snogging, of course. After dinner they parted ways so that Hermione could get ready, even though Harry told her she was perfect as she was. This earned him an especially nice snogging session in the middle of the common room, which thoroughly amused everyone. After many catcalls and shouts of "get a room", the pair broke apart and went their separate ways. Harry figured since Hermione was going to change, he should as well, so he took a shower and changed into a dark pair of jeans and paired it with a dark green t-shirt. He was done in no time and he decided to wait in the common room for Hermione.

Hermione, however, was frantically trying to get ready…she took a shower and then straightened her hair, then she curled just a few places so that she had big wavy curls on the bottom of her hair. When her hair was finished she decided on a pair of really low cut jeans. They would show off the top of her black thong underwear whenever she bent over and she was sure Harry would love that. She then picked out a black sweater that just reached the top of her jeans so that whenever she moved, Harry would get a peak at her stomach. She smirked at how devious she was being. Now came the hard part…should she wear black riding boots or black flats? After 20 minutes of trying them both on and looking in the mirror, she decided to go with the black flats. There was something innocent about them that she liked paired with the sexy low cut jeans. She then threw on some mascara and lip-gloss and headed down to the common room.

As soon as she started walking down the stairs she made eye contact with Harry and he beamed at her, immediately standing up and walking over towards her. At the same time, Seamus started whistling at her. She rolled her eyes at him and everyone laughed. When she reached Harry she kissed him lightly on the lips and said, "Hi."

He smiled and said, "Mione, you look incredible."

She blushed and replied shyly, "Thank you."

He grabbed her hand and started to walk out of the common room with her, ignoring all the catcalls and whistling. They made it to the Room of Requirement quickly and Hermione stepped back so Harry could create the room he wanted. He grabbed her hand and pulled her through and she was amazed at what she saw. Harry had created a room that was filled with everything Muggle. There were loads of arcades, pinball, air hockey, bowling and even a disco room. There was muggle music playing and for food there was pizza, fries, and root beer floats. Hermione was speechless and Harry laughed at her response, asking, "Do you like it?"

She beamed and gave him a passionate kiss, then said, "I love it Harry!"

"Good, let's eat then you can show me how to play all of this, as I've never played before." Replied Harry smiling

Hermione squealed in delight and Harry just stared at her, completely in shock that she just did something so…girly.

They ate and then spent hours playing everything, laughing and having a great time. When they switched to bowling, Harry was only able to take a couple of games before he couldn't handle how sexy Hermione was. Her sweater kept riding up exposing her back and her pants were really low so the top of her underwear, as well as her tattoo were clearly on display. He growled suddenly and attacked her with such a passion that when he pulled away he saw that the room had provided a couch for them. He grinned devilishly and pulled her down with him. After snogging for quite a bit, Hermione pulled him up and said, "I want to dance, Mr. Potter. Let's go check out the disco room."

Harry just nodded and went along with whatever she wanted.

The room was dark and the music was loud and they were able to quickly lose themselves dancing, thoroughly enjoying being so close to each other. After a few hours of dancing, they decided they should probably head back, as it was very late.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we could bring a few people here tomorrow to show them all of this? I mean it really is amazing and most of our friends have never seen anything like this. Can you imagine how excited Ron would be?" asked Hermione

Harry chuckled and said, "Sure. Why don't we bring everyone after lunch tomorrow?"

She smiled and kissed him in response then said, "I had an amazing time tonight, Harry. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Mione. I'm glad you liked it. I guess that means I better work hard on coming up with something better for next weekend." Replied Harry

"You're not going to tell me what we're doing are you?" asked Hermione

"Nope. Same day and time next week but I'm not telling you anything else." Replied Harry smirking.

They got to the common room and Harry paused at the bottom of the stairs, making Hermione turn around questioningly, asking, "What is it Harry?"

Harry ran his hands through his hair then said, "It's just that I'm not sure I should be sleeping in the same bed as you anymore."

Seeing Hermione frown he quickly continued, "No, Hermione, I didn't mean it like that…it's just that you're incredibly sexy and I really enjoy being with you, so much so that I don't want to end up doing something that you're not ready for. I don't know how much self-control I'll have if we're snogging in bed all night. Do you know what I mean?"

Hermione smiled and kissed him gently, then said, "I do, Harry. But I don't want to be without you and I was looking forward to spending some quality snogging time with you in bed tonight. But I'm not ready for sex…yet, so I'll understand if you would rather sleep alone."

"No, Hermione, I don't want to sleep alone…I just don't want to push you." Replied Harry sincerely.

"Harry, when has anyone ever been able to make me do anything if I didn't want to?" asked Hermione amused

Harry smiled and said, "Yeah, you're right."

"Of course I am. Honestly, I thought you would have known by now that I'm always right." Smirked Hermione

"Cheeky witch," said Harry as he smacked her ass making Hermione jump and look at him shocked.

He just chuckled, grabbed her hand and made his way up to her dorm with her trailing behind.

They quickly washed up, changed and got into bed. Hermione was wearing a simple black tank top and matching underwear, while Harry was just wearing his boxers.

"Now, Mr. Potter, I do believe I owe you a proper thank you for the wonderful date." Said Hermione huskily

"Mione…you don't need to do anything to thank me." Said Harry sincerely

"I know, but I want to." Replied Hermione before she descended on his lips, then she moved to his neck, then his jaw, then his ears, then his chest and arms. She was kissing, licking and sucking him in a way that was making him squirm. After a half hour of this he gasped out, "Mione, I can't take much more of this."

She pulled away and smiled down at him, looking deep into his eyes. She could see the desire and passion in his eyes but also concern for her.

"Harry, there's something I've never done before, that I would really like to try…would you let me?" asked Hermione shyly

Harry seemed confused, as his brain was still fuzzy from all the passion he was feeling, so he just looked at her questioningly.

She laughed and said, "You may have to help me figure out what to do, OK?"

Still, he just looked at her questioningly, until Hermione smiled and started to kiss her way down his body. "Mione… you don't have to…" gasped Harry but it was too late as Hermione was busy learning something new. Who was he to keep her from learning?

 

**Chapter 10**

Christmas break was just a day away and Hermione was enjoying her new relationship with Harry. They were even more inseparable than usual and had gone on two more surprisingly romantic dates, which surprised Hermione, as Harry never let on that he was the romantic type.

Two weeks ago on a Friday, Harry told her to dress comfortably and meet him in the common room at midnight. No matter how much she questioned him he would not tell her what they were doing. After meeting him they covered themselves with the invisibility cloak and Harry took her to the library. Quirking her eyebrow at him she followed him in. He headed straight for the restricted section where a comfortable couch, table and snack had been set out. There was low lighting that was just perfect for nighttime reading. He had planned the whole thing with Dobby who enlisted the help of Peeves to ensure that Filch didn't wander to the Library tonight. They had the whole night to read whatever Hermione wanted. She was completely speechless and after snogging him senseless, spent the night curled up in his arms reading all sorts of books.

Last week again he was mysterious about what they were going to do and simply said to meet him at 6PM in the common room. This time however, Harry snuck them outside and they walked through the grounds until they reached the lake. On the dock, Hermione found a candlelit dinner waiting for her. A warming charm had been placed not only on their food but on the area where they were eating as well. Hermione gave Harry a bit of a hard time for giving Dobby so much work these last couple of week, but Harry diverted her attention to finding something nice to do for the elf as a thank you. They enjoyed the fresh air and talked late into the night.

She was most pleased that somehow Harry and Draco were able to tolerate being in each other's presence and even had exchanged civil conversation. It was completely surreal and she wasn't sure it would last but she made sure to give positive reinforcement to Harry whenever she saw something she liked. She blushed fiercely though every time 'her boys' were together as her mind kept coming back to the talk she had with Sirius when he had suggested Draco and Harry share her. The rational side of her knew it would never happen but something in her was holding onto a sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe…

"What has you looking so happy?" asked Harry softly in her ear, as he came up behind her wrapping his arms around her waist.

She jumped slightly and blushed fiercely. She was caught daydreaming about what it would be like to be with Harry and Draco together.

Harry chuckled and looked at her curiously, as he turned her to face him. "You're adorable when you blush, you know that right?"

She buried her face in his neck and groaned making him laugh harder. He kissed the top of her head and said sweetly, "Will you tell me what has you blushing so much?"

She shook her head no furiously.

"Miss Granger were you thinking dirty thoughts about me?" he asked teasingly

If possible she turned a brighter shade of red and then bit her lip nervously, making him growl before he kissed her passionately. After a few minutes they broke apart breathless. He grinned and then said sexily, "If you tell me what you were thinking about, I promise to make it happen."

Hermione laughed loudly then said, "Trust me Harry, you don't want to know."

He frowned at her response, lifted her chin up so he could look into her eyes then said, "Of course I want to know, Hermione. You're my best friend, my girlfriend, my everything really… there's nothing you could say to me that would change how I felt about you. You know that right?"

Hermione nodded shyly in response and Harry continued, "I know we haven't gone all the way yet, but it's not because I don't want to. I just wanted to make sure you were ready. Is that what you were thinking about?"

"Sort of." Replied Hermione quietly

Harry grinned and kissed her again. When he pulled away he said, "Well Miss Granger, feel free to take advantage of me when the mood strikes you."

Hermione smiled and replied, "I don't know, Mr. Potter, are you sure you're up for the task?"

Harry laughed for a minute before he became deadly serious and backed Hermione up against the wall. He placed on arm on either side of her head, and said huskily, "I believe I will be able to rise to the occasion Miss Granger." He kissed her neck for a few minutes and smirked when he heard her moan then he added, "And your satisfaction is most definitely guaranteed."

"Harry!" said Hermione blushing

He chuckled and nuzzled into her neck again to place some kisses then whispered in her ear, "Just stating the truth, love."

She moaned in response to his touch and husky voice.

He slowly pulled her right leg up around him so that he could get closer to her. He then began kissing her passionately while running his hand up the back of her thigh, lightly squeezing her butt every now and then. After several minutes she broke the kiss gasping and lightly pushing against his chest.

"Sorry, love, I got carried away." Said Harry sheepishly as he stepped back.

She shook her head and said, "No, it's not that…I just don't want our first time to be at school where anyone could walk in on us. Besides, if you kissed me for any longer I wouldn't have been able to hold myself up."

Harry smirked and said, "So, you've been thinking about our first time, have you?"

Hermione looked away embarrassed and Harry brought her face back to him and said, 'I've thought about it tons of times, Mione."

"You have?" she asked shyly

"Definitely."

"Harry, I promise I won't make you wait much longer." Said Hermione apologetically

"No, Hermione you don't understand. I've never felt this way for anyone before and I'll happily wait as long as you want. I don't want to do anything to screw this up." Said Harry sincerely brushing his fingers across her jaw.

"Merlin Harry, could you be anymore perfect?" she asked teasingly

He smiled and puffed out his chest proudly

"So what were you doing besides fantasizing about me?"

She laughed and said, "I was just going to pack my things since we're heading home tomorrow."

"Would you like a hand?" asked Harry

"That's sweet Harry, but you know how I am with organizing. I'd love it if you kept me company, though." Replied Hermione

Harry smiled, took off his shoes then launched himself on her bed, sprawling out completely. The spent the rest of the night enjoying each other's company and shared a tender kiss before bed.

Hermione had made up her mind that she was definitely going to sleep with Harry over break. She just needed to figure out where and when. She thought it might be easier at his place so she resolved to find some alone time with him in his bedroom at Grimmauld Place as soon as possible. This proved to be a lot harder than she had anticipated. For days every time she was alone with Harry, they would be interrupted. Sirius seemed to be doing everything in his power to keep them from being alone, almost as if he sensed that's what she wanted. If it wasn't him, it was Remus or Mrs. Weasley interrupting them. Finally halfway through break, they couldn't take it anymore. Remus had just come up to tell them that dinner was ready. Completely frustrated, Harry looked at the time and it was barely 4PM. He slammed the door in Remus' face and turned back to Hermione and said, "Is it me or are they purposely trying to keep us from doing anything?"

"It's not you Harry." Replied Hermione equally frustrated

"What the fuck!" yelled Harry pulling on his hair, grabbing his discarded shirt and pulling it over his head?

"OK, new plan, Harry. I don't know why I didn't remember this until now but my parents are going to an all day conference tomorrow but it's far away so they are leaving after dinner tonight and staying over. We'll have the house to ourselves. I'll go home now and spend some time with them and then you can come over after you've had dinner here." Said Hermione hurriedly getting up and looking for her shirt. She pulled it on and turned to see Harry grinning at her.

"You are brilliant, Hermione." He said huskily and brought her closer to him and they kissed passionately for several minutes until there was another knock on his door making Harry growl and Hermione laugh.

She walked over to the door and opened it to see Sirius on the other side. "We were just coming down Sirius. I'm actually going to head home and have dinner with my parents. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not, Hermione. " said Sirius moving aside to let the teens out.

They got to the bottom of the stairs and Hermione kissed Harry briefly and said, "I'll see you soon," before she used the newly connected fireplace to floo home.

Harry stormed into the kitchen with a chuckling Sirius behind him. Remus and Tonks were sitting at the table when they came in. Tonks looked like she was trying to keep from laughing but was doing a terrible job of it. Harry was furious and he could barely contain his rage, so he immediately started shouting which caused them all to stop laughing pretty quickly. He rounded on Sirius and said, "What the fuck are you playing at Sirius?"

"Don't you dare talk to me like that, Harry!" snapped Sirius angrily

"FUCK YOU! I'll talk to you however I like!" shouted Harry

Remus had gotten up and put himself in between the two and said, "Harry, why don't you tell us what has you so upset."

Harry laughed mirthlessly and said, "Like you don't know!"

"Harry, you can't be this mad because I told you dinner was ready. I'm sorry I interrupted your time with Hermione but I didn't do it with that in mind." Said Remus trying to appease Harry

Harry laughed some more and said, "I haven't had more than 20 minutes alone with my girlfriend since I've been home! I have more privacy at Hogwarts for fucks sake!"

Tonks laughed outright, while Remus chuckled lightly then said, "Harry, why didn't you just tell us you wanted to be left alone for a while?"

Harry glared at Sirius for a few minutes then said fiercely, "I don't know what the fuck you're playing at Sirius, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you're just being a marauder and pulling a prank on me."

Sirius sneered and said, "and if I'm not?"

Harry lunged at him and pushed him up against the wall with his arm against his throat and growled, "Then that's your problem because she's my girlfriend and that's not going to change."

Sirius pushed Harry away from him and Remus stepped in between them again, looking between the two obviously concerned. After seeing the rage in Sirius' eyes he rounded on him and spoke harshly, "Sirius, stop it. He's your Godson for Merlin's sake! James would kick your arse if he was here right now, and I have half a mind to do it for him! I don't know what the fuck has come over you but let me just remind you of the facts. Right now, at this exact moment, Hermione is sixteen. She has chosen to be the girlfriend of your Godson Harry! The son of your dead best friend James! Are you listening to me Sirius? Do you remember the last thing James said to Hermione before she used the time turner to go home? He told her to take care of his boy! He knew she was doing it all for his son, he knew Hermione would take care of Harry! Get control of yourself! Whatever you feel for her, you have to leave it behind you!"

Sirius looked at Remus, then at Harry and finally down at the floor, sighing and running his hands through his hair. He nodded once then spoke quietly and said, "I'm sorry Harry; I've been a terrible godfather. Remus is right, I just need to put everything behind me."

He looked up to meet Harry's eyes, which looked as though they were on fire he was so angry, but Harry gave the slightest nod of his head before turning and storming out of the kitchen and up the stairs to his room. They heard the door slam a few seconds later.

Two hours later a much calmer Harry was exiting the floo at Hermione's house. He was instantly greeted with a squeal and a hug, which made him smile broadly. "Hey beautiful." He said huskily in her ear.

She giggled and kissed him softly, pulling away after a minute to look in his eyes then said seriously, "Harry. I want you. Tonight. No more waiting."

She watched him intently while he thought for a minute before he replied, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." She replied simply

He nodded and kissed her tenderly then said breathily, "I would like nothing more than to make love to you tonight, Hermione."

She smiled at him then took his hand and led him through the house, up the stairs and into her bedroom. She closed the door behind him and he was immediately at ease in her room. Everything was light blue and cream in color, the lights were off with only a few candles giving off a faint light. He smiled at Hermione and reached for her but she stepped back and said, "Not just yet, Mr. Potter. I'll be right back."

He smiled and nodded as she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Now that the moment was here, Harry was a little nervous. This was such a big step for them. She was his best friend; if they did this then there was no going back. They wouldn't be able to go back to being just friends after this. Harry shook his head, who was he kidding, he didn't ever want to go back to being just friends with Hermione, no matter if they had sex or not. He was completely in love with her and this was her way of showing him that she felt exactly the same. He sat down on the bed and took off his shoes, then scooted back so that he was resting against the headboard with his legs stretched out on the bed. He looked around the room and noticed a wall of pictures across from him that he hadn't seen at first. They were mostly pictures of him, Ron and Hermione. There were a few with just the two of them, as well as a few with just Harry and Ron. The Harry in the pictures kept raising his eyebrows at Harry smirking and the Hermione in the pictures kept blowing him kisses. He chuckled when one of the Hermione's started snogging her picture Harry and he reached down and grabbed her ass.

"Cheeky little bugger, isn't he?" asked Hermione from beside him.

He turned to look at her, not realizing she had come back in and his breath caught in his throat. She looked simply beautiful. She continued, "That picture's gotten me in more trouble than I care to admit. I actually had to take it down for a while."

Harry looked back to see that the picture Harry had started to remove picture Hermione's top and was now working on her pants. He laughed heartily and asked, "Do they always do that?"

Hermione shook her head no and replied, "No, they only seem to do it when someone else is in my room."

Harry raised his eyebrows at her and said cheekily, "Why Miss Granger, how many others have been in your room?"

She smiled at him and said, "My father was horrified the first time he saw that happen. I had to listen to him rant and rave for weeks one summer over it. It was awful, he must have talked to me about safe sex at least a dozen times that summer."

Harry laughed and said, "Is that why you took it down?"

"No…last summer Draco saw it and I swear the picture you was taunting him. The things they were doing in the picture, I have never seen them do. It was all I could do to keep Draco from blasting a hole in my wall, he was so angry. So I took it down and put it in my closet. I just put it up again this week." Replied Hermione quietly

"What exactly what we doing in the picture that made Draco so angry?" asked Harry curiously

Hermione looked over at the picture and blushed profusely, then said, "that."

Harry looked over to see his picture head in between picture Hermione's legs. He gaped and the picture Harry looked up and winked at Harry before resuming what he was doing. "OI! Have they always been like this? I mean we weren't together until this year…" asked Harry astonished

"Yeah. It was quite embarrassing actually to walk by and see them going at it like rabbits. Didn't help with my raging teenage hormones, I'll tell you that." Replied Hermione smiling

Harry chuckled and said, "No, I imagine it wouldn't." He couldn't keep his eyes off the picture and Hermione whispered huskily in his ear, "If you're good Mr. Potter, perhaps I'll let you keep it."

He shivered in anticipation and turned his head slightly to kiss her. The kiss was quite passionate and it seemed as if they were the only ones in the world. He pulled her closer to him and she kneeled in front of him on the bed. It didn't take long for them to lose control and Harry firmly placed Hermione under him, dragging her bottoms off her. He then kissed his way up her legs and paid special attention to her inner thighs making her moan and giggle at the same time.

"Harry, you're tickling me!" she said breathily.

He grinned up at her and said, "I think the picture's got the right idea, love. May I?"

She pulled her lower lip between her teeth and looked suddenly nervous. Harry was immediately concerned and moved up to her mouth and said, "What's wrong, love?"

She blushed and looked away not answering him.

He frowned and said sincerely, "I don't have to if you don't want me to. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, Hermione."

She turned quickly back to look in his eyes and said, "No, Harry, you didn't make me uncomfortable. And I do want you to…. its just…. well…. it's only been done to me once before and I don't want to disappoint you." She was blushing furiously and could barely look him in the eye she was so embarrassed.

Harry was obviously surprised and it showed. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Will you let me show how amazing it can be?" asked Harry smiling broadly

She nodded in response and Harry started kissing his way down her body going back to her inner thighs for several minutes before moving to her center. She was in heaven. There was no other way to describe what Harry was making her feel right then. He took his time, was gentle and seemed to know exactly what to do. His tongue was doing amazing things to her and she was having trouble staying still. He brought his hands up and held her hips down so that she couldn't move as much. He then took her legs and put them over his shoulders and she instinctively wrapped them around his head. When Harry started moaning and hissing into her she lost all control and went over the edge. When she fell back to the bed, she could feel Harry smiling into her thigh and giving her small kisses and she realized she still had her legs wrapped around his head and quickly untangled them to let him move away. But he didn't. He stayed where he was and continued to kiss her thighs and then finally he moved slowly up her body and grabbed her head kissing her fiercely.

She was surprised but didn't pull away. He had always kissed her after she went down on him so really what difference did it make the other way around. He moaned into her mouth and she could feel him getting harder. She pulled back and smiled at him then said breathily, "That was definitely amazing, Harry."

He smiled proudly and said, "My pleasure, I'm glad you enjoyed it." He moved slightly so that he was pressing against her entrance and he looked in her eyes and asked again, "Are you sure?"

Her response was to wrap her legs around him and push down on his butt with her heels, drawing him into her. She kissed him thoroughly as he entered her for the first time. He stopped when he was all the way in, letting her adjust. She knew he was much thicker than Draco but she didn't expect it to be so uncomfortable at first. She tentatively moved to see if it was painful and it must have shown on her face because Harry kissed her all over her face whispering sweet nothings to her, while he stayed perfectly still. They stayed like this for at least five minutes until Harry said, "I'm going to try and move now, love."

She nodded and kissed him hungrily as he started to move slowly. She was aching but also felt some pleasure. After several minutes she was starting to push the ache away and focus on the pleasure. She began moving and meeting Harry's thrusts, raking her nails down his back, making him groan…in pleasure or pain she wasn't sure.

There were no words exchanged for a long time, just moans and kisses and heavy breathing. They're hands were everywhere at once, as if they were memorizing each other's bodies. Harry moved slowly and sensually, in and out, over and over again for an amazingly long time. At one point he had pulled one of her legs up, hiking his arm under her knee so that he could reach deeper in her. At another point he rolled them over and pushed down on Hermione's bum to bring them closer. She gasped when he hit something that made her tingle. She smiled shyly at him then sat up so that she was straddling him. She moved methodically, slowly going up then down until his eyes were rolling in the back of his head from the pleasure he was getting. Then he was rolling Hermione so that she was under him again and he began moving faster.

"Harry?" she squeaked

"Yes, love?" replied Harry gasping for air

"It's starting to hurt..." Replied Hermione apologetically.

Harry immediately stopped moving and went to pull out of her but she held him in place with her legs

"Hermione, I'm sorry." He said kissing her face

She shook her head and said, "No, I'm sorry Harry. But please, I want you to finish. Do you think you're close?"

"Hermione, don't worry about me, I'll be fine" said Harry concerned

"No, Harry, Please. It's been absolutely perfect up until this moment. I want you to finish, I just don't think I can go too much longer, so what can I do to help you?"

Harry looked like he was having an internal war with himself but when Hermione tensed her muscles around him he closed his eyes and moaned, making her smile. She whispered in his ear, "Oh, Harry, do you like when I use my muscles like that?"

He opened his eyes surprised and nodded before he kissed her. He started moving in short quick thrusts and Hermione clenched her teeth in pain but knew he was close, so she thought she would give him more incentive. She kissed his neck and pulled his earlobe in her mouth, dragging her teeth along the soft flesh before she let go, kissing her way down his neck, leaving several hickeys on the way then finally she bit down hard on the spot between his neck and shoulder. He gasped in surprise then she felt him start shuddering inside her, followed by a series of moans from him. She held him tightly to her while his breathing normalized, smiling the whole time.

She was so happy that she finally made love to Harry and that she was able to please him in bed. Even though she was extremely sore and she was aching like crazy, she couldn't stop smiling and kissing him everywhere she could reach.

 

**Chapter 11: Epilogue**

5 years later (after the war, after Harry killed Voldemort, after many casualties)...

 

Hermione shot up in bed, breathing heavily and shaking.

"Shhh… It's OK. It was just a nightmare," whispered Harry soothingly rubbing her back.

Hermione groaned and plopped back down, pushing her hair out of her face.

"Was it the same one as always?" asked Harry quietly

"Yeah…I swear it's on auto repeat or something. It's happening almost every night." Sighed Hermione

"Hermione, maybe we should talk to a mind healer, maybe they can do something, maybe they can obliviate part of that night," suggested Harry

"Absolutely NOT! He died protecting me Harry and you think I should repay him by obliviating it from my memory!" snapped Hermione horrified

"Not the whole thing, love, just some of it…Hermione, you're pregnant for Merlin's sake! You need your rest!" replied Harry concerned

"I'm fine! I can handle a few nightmares, Harry."

"Hermione."

"NO, Harry. End of Discussion!" snapped Hermione turning away from him.

Sighing, he lay back down and started rubbing her back to try and settle her down. "I'm sorry, love, I just hate to see you suffer so much. He didn't sacrifice his life so that you could suffer. He wanted you to have a chance at being happy."

Hermione sniffled a little then said quietly, "Why did he do it, Harry?"

"Because he loved you."

"But…"

"But nothing, love. He loved you and in that moment that was all that mattered to him. He was willing to throw himself in front of you, to die for you. And I couldn't be more grateful for that. I don't know what I would do without you love," whispered Harry.

She turned her head and kissed him gently, tears streaming down her face. After a few minutes she pulled away and said, "Harry, would you mind if we named our son after him?"

After a minute of silence she rolled over to look at him and said, "Harry?"

"Sorry, love. I was just thinking about it," replied Harry then he continued, "It would certainly shock everyone. I think everyone expects us to name him James."

"Yes, I did think about that but…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Replied Harry finishing her thought.

"We could make James his middle name," countered Hermione.

Harry shook his head and said, "No, that doesn't sound right. How about Sirius as a middle name?"

Hermione thought about it for a minute before smiling and saying, "I like it."

Harry smiled broadly then moved down the bed and lifted Hermione's shirt so that he could see her belly, which was quite big given that she was 8 months pregnant. He kissed her belly gently then said, "What do you think of your name, little one? Draco Sirius."

The baby kicked making both Harry and Hermione laugh.

"I guess he likes it," replied Hermione smiling

"Draco Sirius Potter," repeated Harry in awe with Hermione snuggled up in his arms.


End file.
